I just finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline last night and absolutely loved it. I am definitely putting it on my re-read pile. Of the 25 or so books I've read this year so far, this one is definitely my favorite. So much fun and really fast paced.

I also recently finished reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It ends up being more of a beautiful love story journey than a time travel story and it's not horror although there are horrific things that happen in it. Definitely one of his better ones. The paperback is coming out soon but the Hardcover was I think about 849 pages so it will take awhile to get through.

Look into other Stephen King books, there are some monsters. "It". "The Stand", and "Under the Dome" are all over 1000 pages. There is also the Dark Tower series, there is about 7 or 8 books in it. I haven't read it yet but I plan to one day. A lot of people say this series is their favorite King work.

A Series I am still in the process of reading is called The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness, three books 1. The Knife of Never Letting Go, 2. The Ask and The Answer, 3. Monsters of Men. It's a fun series, I have read the first two. Humans have colonized another planet, there was a war with the indiginous alien population and humans were exposed to a germ that killed the women and made it so the men could all hear each others and all the animals thoughts, which they call The Noise. Todd, the main boy, begins to get into the secrets of his town and must escape, and he comes across a strange pocket of silence, a girl, and more secrets. Lots of fun.

My favorite book that I read in 2011, that I discovered on Reddit when someone made a comment about it, Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Futuristic Sci-fi story. Do not read any spoilers about this book, it will ruin it. Reading the synopsis on Amazon is OK but don't go into any more depth. It works best if you know as little as possible. All I will say is "I did not see that coming." I wish I knew who it was that made the comment I saw, because I would thank them. It's a very short book so you will blast through it in no time.

If you like YA books, I would suggest the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and all the other books written by the author Rick Riordan. The original series is 5 books but there is also a follow-up series called The Heroes of Olympus series with some of the same characters but a whole cast of new ones, so far there are 2 in that series out, the third comes in October. The author also has another series called The Kane Chronicles but instead of Greek mythology it's Egyptian. This one is a trilogy. They are really easy to ready but I find them fun. You can tell the author uses basically the same formula each time though.

You might not like this one but it's a popular YA series right now. The first book is called Divergent by Veronica Roth and the Sequel came out a few months back called Insurgent. It's very reminicient of Hunger Games, same tone, feel, and themes so you might not like it but I've enjoyed it so far. It's a dystopian future and takes place in what used to be known as Chicago.

I also enjoyed The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind (very strange but I really, really enjoyed it).

I read a book earlier this year called Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and it's been one of favorites so far this year. The premise sounds odd and not good, like a Twilight rip-off or something but I was surprised at how good it was, there are many larger messages in it, than the initial plot synopsis. Zombie apocalypse but the story is told through the perspective of a zombie instead of the human. His name is 'R' and he lives in the airport with a bunch of other zombies. One day he eats the brains of this boy and takes his girlfriend hostage. As he continues to eat his brain, he experiences the memories of this boy and begins to fall for the girl. I know what you're thinking, necrophilia or some shit, but it doesn't actually get to that but it's hard to describe without giving the plot away. It's well written and the resolution to the story is wonderful, with a larger message about life. I really enjoyed this one.

Hope that helps a little.

At least for Anarchists or other left-libertarians it should also be important to actually read up on some basic or even fundamental ethical texts given most political views and arguments are fundamentally rooted in morality (unless you're a orthodox Marxist or Monarchist). I'm sadly not familiar enough with applied ethics to link collections of arguments for specific ethical problems, but it's very important to know what broad system you're using to evaluate what's right or wrong to not contradict yourself.

At least a few very old texts will also be available for free somewhere on the internet like The Anarchist Library.

Some good intro books:

• The Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer-Landau
  
• The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James and Stuart Rachels
  
• Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Blackburn
  
  Some foundational texts and contemporary authors of every main view within normative ethics:
  
  
• Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotles for Classic Virtue-Ethics. Martha Nussbaum would be a contemporary left-wing Virtue-Ethicist who has used Marx account of alienation to argue for Global Justice.
  
• Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel (or Emmanuel) Kant for Classic Deontology. Kantianism is a popular system to argue for anti-statism I believe even though Kant himself was a classical liberal. Christine Korsgaard would be an example of a contemporary Kantian.
  
• The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick for Classic Utilitarianism. People usually recommend Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill, but most contemporary Ethicists believe his arguments for Utilitarianism suck. 2 other important writers have been R. M. Hare and G. E. Moore with very unique deviations from classic Utilitarianism. A contemporary writer would be Peter Singer. Utilitarianism is sometimes seemingly leading people away from Socialism, but this isn't necessarily the case.
  
• Between Facts and Norms and other works by the contemporary Critical Theorist Jürgen Habermas may be particularly interesting to Neo-Marxists.
  
• A Theory of Justice by John Rawls. I know Rawls is a famous liberal, but his work can still be interpreted to support further left Ideologies. In his later works like Justice as Fairness: A Restatement you can see him tending closer to Democratic Socialism.
  
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche for... Nietzsche's very odd type of Egoism. His ethical work was especially influential to Anarchists such as Max Stirner, Emma Goldman or Murray Bookchin and also Accelerationists like Jean Baudrillard.
  
• In case you think moralism and ethics is just bourgeois propaganda maybe read something on subjectivism like Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong by J. L. Mackie
  
• Or if you want to hear a strong defense of objective morality read Moral Realism: A Defense by Russ Shafer-Landau orc

You're unlikely to find Ecuadorian authors that write in English. The history of our country and its analysis from an academic standpoint generally only interests Ecuadorians. Consequently, books written by Ecuadorians are in Spanish, and they are not translated. I'm sorry but I don't know any books which you could read. I think you should find books in English regardless of the nationality of the author. These two books seem like a good start.

I really appreciate the fact that you are trying to learn and connect with your heritage. Being a history bluff I love it when people are eager to educate themselves. Don't mind the ruder replies. If you can understand and speak Spanish, you are already halfway to fluency. Reading it is actually easy since words are read the same as they are written. If you want to improve your written Spanish, we could practice together. After that, you could read books about Ecuador's history by Ecuadorians in Spanish.

Given your feedback you might be interested in The Secret Footballer's Guide to the Modern Game.

Inverting the Pyramid is a great overview of football tactics from the beginning of the game until the 2000s, but the book stars before the 1900s IIRC so if you're not super into history or what formations were popular in like 1920, the first half of the book is quite a slog.

In terms of literary value, Soccer in Sun and Shadow is your best bet. It's beautifully written and easy to read but focuses on South America

Tinker by Wen Spencer. Genius, runs a junkyard, races hoverbikes, works magic, Elves, Pittsburgh, etc. She's awesome.

Torin Kerr from the Valor series and Vicki Nelson from the Blood series by Tanya Huff are great female leads. Torin is a scifi series and Vicki is early urban fantasy.

Either the Kate Daniels series or Edge series by Ilona Andrews ... great female and male characters. Lots of depth and variety, very well-written.

Lily Yu and Cynna Weaver in the Lupi series by Eileen Wilks.

Any of Patricia Briggs's books - Mercy Thompson, Alpha & Omega, her fantasy novels ... all great female leads.

So many great female leads, I can give a ton more if you want them.

Bertrand Russell Conquest of Happiness.

Some of the language is a bit dated but the philosophical aspects are rather timeless and well presented. Edit: excuse me Russell won a nobel Peace prize for lit and this book was a part of his doing so. Maybe not the only book you should read but a good must read.

https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp/087140673X

i've ordered Herr Pep and Boquita. really pumped to read those. on the internet, Marti Perarnau has interesting guides to various European leagues.

the best soccer book of ALL time though is by Eduardo Galeano, El futbol a sol y sombra, also known as Soccer in Sun and Shadow.

Inverting the Pyramid is Great, How Soccer Explains the World is awesome, and Alex Bellos' book, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life is also really, really great.

zoo city is really awesome, with a strong female protagonist. it's south african young adult cyberpunk; i think they would really enjoy it. also, it won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award!

>i dont want to buy it

Sorry but there are no other way as the fan TLer has been taken down.

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Both of these books one and two are books I need for school this coming semester. So I would love either or both. :)

Gah...3 favorite books SO HARD. Ok i'm cheating a bit.

1. Harry Potter Series (can't break them up but I would say i liked the 4th book probably the most. I never read 6 and 7 til now so no spoilers!)
   
   
2. Kite Runner
   
   
3. Hunger Games series/Anything dystopian
   
   page-turner
   
   Edit: the amazing /u/jbs090020 gifted me the two books I initially picked so now I will say this and this for school. :)

First of all, I absolutely must also follow in Urbinsanity's suggestion of A.N Whitehead's 'Adventures of ideas' - it is a wonderful book.

I do not know of any 'defining book' on the study of ontology unfortunately, but I would also join in suggesting "Metaphysics an Introduction" along with bitemydickallthetime, given what I've heard on the book.

Also, I'd strongly suggest Process and Reality if you have a few years to spare, or Modes of thought if you have a few weeks (perhaps less!).

And for the more 'interesting'/'strange' stuff, I always go with Leibniz's Monadology.

Oh! and I don't know how well-corroborated this suggestion would be, but I have always found the fiction of Jorge Luis Borges to be ripe with notions strongly involved in metaphysics and ontology. Labyrinths is a great place to look in this regards - especially if you're looking for something a bit 'lighter' than direct works on ontology.

What books?
There are easy and hard books in every languages in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

The first book I read in Chinese was

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company/dp/1941875017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464085663&sr=1-1&keywords=sherlock+curly

I have no idea what HSK level it is but I would guess 70-75% of the words are in the HSK 1 & 2 word lists, and the rest are in a glossary at the back (around 400 - 500 chars in total).

I definitely started with HSK word lists and these "1000 most common used char" they give you some useful words but you also pretty quickly realise what they are missing.

Obviously you want to learn question words etc which may or may not appear in those lists.

Grab the app Dechiper. All of the articles have a hsk level on them so you can gauge a rough idea of your progress. I would guess im around hsk 3 after 4-5 months of daily study. I take it "semi-seriously" (every day, but maybe just for an hour).

I'd stick with what you know. And ask people from the actual culture you're writing if you need help and don't want to insult anyone. But you know, you can have all black casts without it being weird. But as long as when you think of your stories you're not flinching away from an all black cast because you think no one will read it, you will do well.

It sounds like part of the issue you're having is that you want to make people "fit" their culture. But we know people live, work, and date in other cultures all day long. Don't worry so much about making a fit as long as you got the cultural details right and it's plausible (ex. Paul uses a katana not because he's japanese but because he was taught kenjutsu from a young age by a friend of his grandfather's. or something similar).

Also, for some black speculative fiction, try anthologies like Steamfunk! or AfroSF. I have Steamfunk and if you have Kindle i'll lend it to you. Or anyone that wants to read it.

Actually, even though menstruation taboos were found in other ancient cultures, the Greeks did not include it under miasma, as far as we can tell. Parker discusses this in his seminal book Miasma, and there's also a good, thorough blog post about the topic here. Unfortunately there are a lot of misconceptions about miasma out there, especially on the internet - which is why it is still best to get your information from academic books (although of course even scholars are not exempt from misunderstanding or mistaking things).

Also good to keep in mind that while some things were considered miasma across the board, a lot of the specific rules for purity applied to particular cults and temples (meaning that they could even be different for the same god in different places). And there was a much less stringent standard applied outside of the temples (which were the homes of the gods). Depending on whether you consider and treat your home shrine as a temple space, or worship outdoors, changes how you deal with miasma too.

From Socrates to Sartre: A Philosophic Quest Its a pretty good starting point. Its basically just an overview of major philosophers. Also for some fiction try Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Its a pretty easy read and deals with what it means to be human.

As far as I know, the two main English translations of Journey to the West are Anthony Yu's version and Arthur Waley's version

Its a great story and its an awesome read. Waley's version (just called "Monkey") is a bit more abridged, but its easier to read, and I'd recommend starting with that one.

I'm at a really basic level as well, so IDK much about learning in the long run, but I got The Chairman's Bao as well as this: https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company/dp/1941875017/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482680117&sr=8-3&keywords=Mandarin+Companion There's a few other in that series on different skill levels: I can comprehend MOST of it, and I have it on a Kindle so I can just touch any character I don't know/understand in that context. Good luck!

It's been licensed for both physical and digital release in English. Keep track of licensed release dates with the subreddit wiki in the sidebar.

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I am a really big fan of The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke and am eagerly awaiting the third book in the series.

edit: wow, thanks for making me look that up, it's out already

Pevear and Volokhonsky just edges out Burgin and Tiernan O'Connor for readability. The latter is great, and has a lot of good footnotes and commentary, but P&V is my preference.

As far as I know they are the only two English translations that include the complete text of the novel: Ginsburg and Glenny each used the older version of Bulgakov's text. Of those two, Glenny is significantly better than Ginsburg.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

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For history suggestions, don't forget /r/history

​

Looking quickly at their excellent reading/watching list, https://www.reddit.com/r/history/wiki/recommendedlist

I see this:

​

Latin American/Caribbean History

General

• *Born In Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America: Fourth Edition By John Charles Chasteeen. This edition was published in 2016 and features an improved set of maps and illustrations.
  
• *The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History By John C. Moye
  
• *Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent: 2009 edition By Eduardo Galeano.
  
• Latin America: Regions and People By Robert B. Kent.
  
• The Cambridge History of Latin America By Leslie Bethell.
  
• Afro-Latin America: 1800-2000 By George Reid Andrews.
  
• Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization By Arthur Demarest is one of the best introductions to Mayan history.
  
• Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History By Susan Toby Evans.
  
• In From The Cold: Latin America's New Encounter With the Cold War by Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spencer.
  
• Revolution and Revolutionaries: Guerrilla Movements in Latin America By Daniel Castro.
  
• The History of Latin America: A Collision of Cultures By Michael Eakin explores 500 years of Latin American history and looks at the economic, political, social and cultural evolution of its nations and their peoples.
  
• The Oxford History of Latin American Economics By Jose Antonio Ocampo and Jaime Ros. This is a good introduction to understanding the development of economics and policy in Latin America.
  
• Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence by Robert Harvey.
  
• Politics of Latin America: The Power Game: 4th Edition by Harry E. Vandon and Gary Prevost looks at the political history of Latin America and delves into the sociopolitical issues that have influenced Latin America from the ground up as well emerging issues and new problems facing Latin America in the age of globalization. Vandon and Prevost
  
  

  South America
  

  
  

• A Concise History of Brazil By Boris and Sergio Fausto.
  
• Short History of Brazil, A : From Pre-Colonial Peoples to Modern Economic Miracle By Gordon Kerr.
  
• A New Economic History of Argentina by Gerardo Della Paolera and Alan M. Taylor.
  
• The Argentina Reader by Gabriella Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo.
  
• A History of Chile: Enduring Editions by Luis Galdames.
  
• The Paraguay Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Peter Lambert and Andrew Nickson.
  
• The Ecuador Reader by Carlos de la Torre and Steve Striffler.
  
  

  Central America
  

  
  

• Power in the Isthmus: A Political History of Modern Central America By James Dunkerley.
  
• Simon Bolivar: A Life By John Lynch explores the life of the extraordinary man who liberated six countries from the Spanish Empire made a lasting impression on the politics and society of Central America still tangible today.
  
• The History of Panama by Robert C. Harding covers a century of history, economy and culture in Panama.
  
• The Costa Rica Reader by Steven Palmer. Covers the history of Costa Rica.
  
• Columbia Before Independence: Economy, Society and Politics under Bourbon Rule by Anthony McFarlane.
  
• Democracy and Socialism in Sandinista Nicaragua By Harry E. Vandon and Gary Prevost.
  
  

Moscow-Petushki, also published as Moscow to the End of the Line, Moscow Stations, and Moscow Circles, is a pseudo-autobiographical postmodernist prose poem by Russian writer and satirist Venedikt Yerofeyev. The story follows an alcoholic intellectual, Venya (or Venichka), as he travels by a suburban train on a 125 km (78 mi) journey from Moscow to visit his beautiful beloved and his child in Petushki, a town that is described by the narrator in almost utopian terms. At the start of the story, he has just been fired from his job as foreman of a telephone cable-laying crew for drawing charts of the amount of alcohol he and his colleagues were consuming over time.

Buy it on Amazon, for Kindle.

It's very funny.

I am reading Tanya Huff's Confederation series and it is superb. A good mix of science fiction, military action and alien characters. I am not a big fan of military science fiction (Scalzi excluded), but this series has been great so far.

Link to the omnibus, first two books.

Why its cheap, you should support novels you like that are translated into your language so that you can give support and possibly more incentive for other companies to translate

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes is a really fast and fun read. It has elements of dystopia and sci-fi which apparently you're a fan of and it has a lot of potential for discussion.

The book has attitude and is not a struggle to get through, I think you'd have fun with it.

"Monkey" is the only abridge version of Journey to the West I can recommend.

I own a revised edition of Journey to the West that I picked up early last year. It's the most modern version of Journey to the West. Alex Yu's translation is the best one out there. Wu Cheng'en's translation used to be recommend. If you were to compare both translations together, Wu Cheng'en's is a bit dated.

Hm, most of my favorites have been mentioned, but there's some interesting weather magic in the series by Karen Miller with the first book The Innocent Mage and the series by Glenda Larke with the first book The Last Stormlord.

Also, the magic isn't too in depth, but I think there's a lot of things to like about it in the book White Fire Crossing by Courtney Schafer.

Not too hard to find hard copies of the books on Amazon. I grabbed a used 2nd ed core a little while back. I really wanted to play this game when I was a kid in the 90's. I still want to try it, but none of my players are very interested. Mostly I just skim through and look at the rad 80's anime mechs like I did when I was a wee child.

That's fair enough. Work with what you've got!

However, For ideas I'd also dig into games like Heavy Gear (which has some anime influences) and Mechwarrior (which is the classic mech-based RPG) if you can manage it. Heavy Gear especially has a very simple, scalable system that you might like. The 2nd Edition is the best, though some enjoy the changes in 3rd Edition (these edition changes aren't like D&D changes, but rather little revisions to the rules). You can pick up a copy of Heavy Gear on Amazon for as little as $4. (http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Gear-Rulebook-Edition-Dream/dp/1896776329)

Anyone who enjoys this comment; I highly recommend you read this:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063

The less spoilers you know about it, the better.

I happen to have two different translations of this very book right next to me.

On this amazon listing for the book, it lists the translator right next to the author near the top of the page "Thomas Common (Translator) "

I found Walter Kauffman on amazon, and you can get his translation of "TSZ" through The Portable Nietzsche right there on Amazon in paperback, kindle or library binding formats.

Enjoy! As I have.

It's nowhere to be found in the Charlotte area according to the online library sites. Not surprising. UNC Charlotte has it. Maybe it's time to get some student loans! Probably totally worth it.

It will come around, the book I mean. You know that Gudo Nishijima and Brad Warner just released a translation of Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way too? It might be interesting. Gudo has a slightly different take on a lot of things.

edit: Link to that book.

Fortunately, miasma is one of those topics for which there is a goodly amount of academic research available if you want to dig into the topic deeper.

A very good book dedicated to the subject is "Miasma: Pollution & Purification in Early Greek Religion" by Robert Parker

Edit: the price is steep for many but if you have a good local library it'll be there; or if you scour eBay, you should be able to find it at a more affordable price.

Jorge Luis Borges. He doesn't exactly write scifi, but his short stories' are very good. He is also very good at fitting big ideas into concise spaces, i.e. On exactitude in science

I think many stories in Labyrinths border on scifi, they just lack space travel and ray guns.

While I appreciate the completeness of that collection, I much prefer the translations in Labyrinths. It's amazing how much difference the translation makes in the reading experience.

Pevear and Volokhonsky are really excellent translators of Russian Lit.

I read their's, and it was excellent.

Try to avoid Constance Garnett.

I think Grey would really enjoy Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Amazon) and its Sequel The Dark Forest.

...Brady described the "empty" sky as an abandoned city (see Vanilla Sky)...as the sequel's name says, you might also describe it as a Dark Forest where humanity is the only guy lighting a big fire and clumsely searching for more wood and stuff, not particulary caring who or what might be watching and evaluating options (for example: our technology advances exponentially, what would somebody ahead of us think of that if they can only advance linear?)



...the books are not without flaw but very original and interesting in their style.

I'd appreciate it, but you certainly don't have to go through all that trouble! Do you know if this translation is any good?

There was a pretty interesting sci-fi book about this called "The Three Body Problem". It is also what I'd been assuming was behind the erratic seasons on Planetos.

Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Not your typical dystopian book, like the ones you listed, but still really interesting.

Nope it's most definitely the light novel kindle version.

What country are you in?

Are you excited about the Three Body Problem translation coming out? I hear it explores the idea of why intelligent civilizations would be (radio) quiet.

I think this is probably the greatest book ever written in the kind of style and genre you've described.

https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp/087140673X

This one is probably the best translation to date.

There are four volumes of around 500 pages each, though, so good luck

Heh. Let me link my description of LitRPG from my group on Royal Road. http://forum.royalroadl.com/showthread.php?tid=88435

Some of the first LitRPG I got into was 'Girls in a Dungeon. https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Pick-Girls-Dungeon-Vol-ebook/dp/B00LZYBVJ4/

This series is set in another world where gods and goddesses on the planet can invest some power in adventurers. This allows them to literally level up by accruing experience via fighting monsters. There is a leveled dungeon system that the MC delves to make his fortune.

It's a light novel series so it's not a literary masterpiece, but I thought it was fun.

Some of the short story collections mentioned in the various articles are AfroSF, AfroSF v2, and Imagine Africa 500.

The Nommo Awards are run by the African Speculative Fiction Society; you can see their 2017 nominations here.

The entries for the speculative fiction week of The Writer 2016 contest can be found here.

The Confederation of Valor series by Tanya Huff is extremely fun and action-packed military SF, and definitely focuses more on combat than politics.

lol dude, the Mulamadhyamakakarika was written in the 2nd century in Sanskrit. The translation I am reading (arguably the most user friendly version) is tough as shit to digest. Each verse has a translation, and then that translation has a translation, and then THAT has the final "in other words" summary written by the authors of the physical book.

Here is the translation I am reading.

Keep in mind, this is pretty "advanced" Buddhism. Over the past year I've read about 8-10 books on Buddhism and Zen and Taoism, and have listened to hundreds of hours of lectures on the subject, and I have been practicing zazen. And in reading this translation of the Mulamadhyamakakarika, I feel that everything I have learned thus far is just giving me a glimpse of comprehension.

back to the beginning

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Current Selection#####

• Echopraxia by Peter Watts [Echopraxia]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
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  Past Selections#####
  

  
  

  2014######
  

  
  

• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [Songs]. Began August 6th.
  
  
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson [2312]. Began July 7th.
  
  
• The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard [crystal]. Began June 4th.
  
  
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon [Lot49]. Began May 7th.
  
  
• The Lilith's Brood Trilogy by Octavia Butler [lilith]. Began April 7th.
  
  
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie [Justice]. Began March 6th.
  
  
• [Invisible Cities] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Cities-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156453800) by Italo Calvino [Invisible]. Began February 5th.
  
  
• Machine Man by Max Barry [Machine]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2013######
  

  
  

• House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds [suns]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Singularity Sky by Charles Stross [singularity]. Began November 4th.
  
  
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [Oryx and Crake]. Began October 7th.
  
  
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway [gone-away]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin [dispossessed]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks [sonata]. Began July 3rd.
  
  
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clark [rama]. Began June 3rd.
  
  
• Jack Glass by Adam Roberts [glass]. Began May 3rd.
  
  
• Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn [monsters]. Began April 3rd.
  
  
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem [solaris]. Began March 3rd.
  
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan [carbon]. Began February 1.
  
  
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson [diamond]. Began January 4th.
  
  

  2012######
  

  
  

• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke [childhood]. Began December 1st.
  
  
• Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (aka Unto Leviathan) [fools]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg [dying]. Began October 4th.
  
  
• China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh [china]. Began September 4th.
  
  
• Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges [labyrinths]. Began August 4th.
  
  
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [martian]. Began July 2nd.
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [mote]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky [picnic]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [Destination]. Began April 2nd.
  
  
• Diaspora by Greg Egan [diaspora]. Began March 5th.
  
  
• Stories by Ted Chiang [Chiang]. Began February 3rd.
  
  
• Grass by Sheri S. Tepper [grass]. Began January 2nd.
  
  

  2011######
  

  
  

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [lord]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Zones of Thought Trilogy by Vernor Vinge [zones], [fire], [deepness], [children]. Began October 28th.
  
  
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami [Wonderland]. Began October 3rd.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [rp1]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross [Rule 34]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi [quantum]. Began July 1st.
  
  
• Embassytown by China Miéville [Embassytown]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald [dervish]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin [LHoD]. Began April 5th.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. [canticle]. Began March 1st.
  
  
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest [inverted world]. Began February 1st.
  
  
• The City & the City by China Miéville [the city]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2010######
  

  
  

• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks [surface]. Began December 3rd.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [cloud atlas]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson [anathem]. Began October 1st.
  
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts [blindsight]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [windup]. Began August 1st.
  
  
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams [MoPI]. Began July 15th.

Unrelated: Have you read Moscow to the End of the Line? It's awesome. Let me know if you haven't, I will find a way to get you a copy, seriously.

AfroSF is a collection of short science fiction stories by African authors. The stories themselves can be hit or miss but all in all I liked it.

This was the version I borrowed from my local library. I couldn't tell you if it's the most accurate translation, but I was certainly able to understand what was being written.

There's a book called the Last Stormlord where they ride giant centipedes sometimes. These are marked in their shells, similar to tattoos, by etching. They go just deep enough to show up. You could even fill it in with paint or ink to make it stand out more (kind of like old school dice!).

BQ: I literally just finished The Three Body Problem Trilogy last night. It was pretty interesting. At first glance you might think it is super sci-fi like Star Wars, but it isn't. The books are essentially about how people, and society as a whole, react to the discovery of alien life. So, although the environment is Sci-Fi, the main plot is very much about sociology.

---

I finally caved and got YNAB. I've spent a few hours this morning trying to figure out what I'm doing.

For those that are unaware of this, here is a link to 1 star reviews on the Amazon page. A number of the posters there (and commenters in those posts) are translators themselves. They explain pretty clearly how embarrassing the Warner/Nishijima translation is.

Private Vasquez.

Edit: You might like the Torin Kerr/Confederacy novels by Tanya Huff: https://www.amazon.com/Confederation-Valor-omnibus-Tanya-Huff/dp/0756403995

• Volume 1: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B00LZYBVJ4
  
• Volume 2: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B00MEMMSJI
  
• Volume 3: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B00QQQL7XG
  
• Volume 4: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B00W22IKWO
  
• Volume 5: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B0176TC08W
  
• Volume 6: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B01922I13Y
  
• Volume 7: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B01DSTTQX6
  
• Volume 8: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B01LWP1QCP
  
• Volume 9: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B06Y5DM665
  
• Volume 10: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B0721JYR82
  
• Volume 11: https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Girls-Dungeon-light-novel-ebook/dp/B0763MTHMK
  
  Volume 11 is coming out in June. You can also find all the above on other stores like Kobo, iBooks, etc.

It's the last move before the cross that's impressive. Otherwise, this only shows Shipp's horrific MLS touch -- put the ball into space and chase it.

He's good and he's got potential, make no mistake, and he's excellent on set pieces.

And there's nothing wrong with him cutting inside from a wide position; in fact, that's what he should be doing.

But his touch is still typically American -- that is, heavy and clumsy. It's not his fault. He's learned how to kick the ball, but he's just now learning how to dance with her.

(Note: before you all jump on me for calling the ball "her", you need to realize than in most gendered languages, "ball" is feminine. Also, you need to read Soccer in Sun and Shadow. Don't argue before you've read that book.)

Try the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation.

While I haven't read their translation of this book, I've read other books they've translated and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Why is nobody mentioning the sci-fi Three Body Problem?

http://smile.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063

http://www.amazon.com/Spake-Zarathustra-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486406636

http://www.amazon.com/Spake-Zarathustra-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486406636

Check out Genesis by Bernarnd Beckett. It's a short read that goes fairly deep on modern views of AIs without getting too bogged down in character back stories or relationships.

here is Volume 1
Volumne 2
Volume 3
Volumne 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
and Volume 8

the digital kindle copy is only 6USD compared to the physical version.

> Tanya Huff's Confederation

http://www.amazon.com/Confederation-Valor-omnibus-Tanya-Huff/dp/0756403995

Is this it?

> Liu Cixin

Are you talking about this? http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063

that book is fiction.

football (soccer) in sun and shadows. Looks at many sides of the sport

Read this translation
http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Margarita-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141180145

Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness?

Read this, I just started it and it has a really shockingly interesting perspective on modern ennui (which is what you're going through):

https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp/087140673X

Here's another I've heard pretty good things about, which I plan to read once I finish Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (which is fucking long holy shit only halfway done.)

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

In case anyone else is interested in reading the actual stories, I spent some time digging them up.

There are three short stories mentioned in this article:

1. Tendai Huchu’s ‘The Sale’ (2013)
   
2. Abigail Godsell’s ‘Taal’ (2009)
   
3. Mandisi Nkomo’s ‘Heresy’ (2013)
   
   Numbers 1 and 3 are found in this collection AfroSF and the second is found in this collection Something Wicked Vol. 2

I read this one, but I don't know if that's good or bad, as I haven't read any others and don't speak Russian.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141180145/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687522&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0679760806&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=09V8F9P9Y9Z9BNBKH270

> Between 23 and 55 million people died in the famine following the Great Leap Forward.

Yes Mao is dead, today CCP is nothing like Mao's. If Mao saw today's China he would point a gun to his head and pull the trigger.

Also CCP's top leaders look at Mao as an utter failure. Xi Jinping and his predecessors were victims of Mao's cultural revolution.

There is a book called Three body problem written by a chinese author that won Hugo Award and recommended by Obama. In the first chapter he unapologetically criticised cultural revolution and it's brutality. The book is the best seller in China and has been translated into English in the west. You can criticise or write about CR in china, you're not gonna get arrested for it. Proof:

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Remembrance-Earths-Past/dp/0765377063

> Oh, I don't think the US is perfect.

Well at least you're honest in that regard.

> But China is not ready to be a world leader.

That's a very US mindset. China doesn't want to be a world leader American way. They just want westerners to stay the fuck out of Chinese politics.

The Three Body Problem http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063

Danmachi


No game no Life