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Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 12/24/2024 8:11 PM, Default User wrote:
200 rejected books? You need a better pre-filter, especially as you
are buying books. That's a significant waste of money. I'm not sure
I would consider books you won't read to be a strategic book
reserve.
My tastes have changed over the last 30+ years. For instance, I have
given up on Clive Custler and there are 2 or 3 of his in my SBR.
Why aren't you reading your books when you get them? Keeping them so
long your tastes change isn't very effective.
On Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:35:10 -0600, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
You know, I have learned a few things in my 64 years of life, that if
you want something and you have the funds, grab it. You never know if >>that something will still be available in a year. Plus, I like
supporting authors, especially independent authors.
Doesn't always work - when I was a 20 year old undergraduate (nearly
50 yrs ago now) I got a copy of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry +
Physics for $25 (Cdn) which of course would be much more now and of
course was a lot more in terms of my buying power then (i.e. it came
out of my summer earnings).
Talked to my son at Christmas about donating it to the locate--
Hackspace he's involved with - I figure the chemistry data should be
current along with the mathematical tables (about 40 pages of
integrals solved) though no doubt in the time since then they will
have added much new material. (I'm too lazy to have looked it up in
the reference section of the local public library which is on a
different floor than the main stacks...)
As for SF - still got lots but my late wife tended to wall off with
new stuff most of her book collection then when she ran short of space >started walling off my half of the room. She/s been gone 2 1/2 years
and I haven't yet gotten around to un-walling off the room (with the
idea of giving away most of hers and organizing mine)
Exactly. I've overflown southern Greenland several times, but clouds
have always obscured the view.
2015: New Horizons flies by dwarf planet Pluto before prudently continuing its flight away from Earth, the settler nations of the New World enjoyed public health successes of a sort that would soon become myth, and Canada elected Justin Trudeau Prime Minister, in the hope this would cause him
to start wearing shirts in public.
Which 2015 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
On 12/23/2024 8:36 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
2015: New Horizons flies by dwarf planet Pluto before prudently continuing >> its flight away from Earth, the settler nations of the New World enjoyed
public health successes of a sort that would soon become myth, and Canada
elected Justin Trudeau Prime Minister, in the hope this would cause him
to start wearing shirts in public.
Which 2015 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Coming Home by Jack McDevitt
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Trial by Fire by Charles E. Gannon
Just the Leckie, the Addison, and the Liu.
I have read and reviewed "Ancillary Sword", "Coming Home", and "Trial By Fire". I have watched the "Annihilation" movie twice for its weirdness.
I have tried to read "The Three-Body Problem" twice now and bounced both times (DNF). You know, I have over 200 books that I have bounced off of in my SBR. I am thinking about taking them to the Half Price Books over in Sugar Land. Maybe I should mail them to James.
Lynn
Which leads to the question, what is your longest time between
acquiring a book and reading it?
On 12/23/2024 2:53 PM, D wrote:
On Mon, 23 Dec 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 12/23/2024 8:36 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
2015: New Horizons flies by dwarf planet Pluto before prudently
continuing
its flight away from Earth, the settler nations of the New World enjoyed >>>> public health successes of a sort that would soon become myth, and Canada >>>> elected Justin Trudeau Prime Minister, in the hope this would cause him >>>> to start wearing shirts in public.
Which 2015 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Coming Home by Jack McDevitt
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Trial by Fire by Charles E. Gannon
Just the Leckie, the Addison, and the Liu.
I have read and reviewed "Ancillary Sword", "Coming Home", and "Trial By >>> Fire". I have watched the "Annihilation" movie twice for its weirdness. >>>
I have tried to read "The Three-Body Problem" twice now and bounced both >>> times (DNF). You know, I have over 200 books that I have bounced off of >>> in my SBR. I am thinking about taking them to the Half Price Books over >>> in Sugar Land. Maybe I should mail them to James.
Lynn
Why didn't you like it?
The China Cultural Revolution torture and murder scenes really bothered me.
I had a really smart friend in college who was a nephew of the Shah of Iran. When Iran fell to islamic crazies in 1979, they killed several of his friends and relatives. Iran figured out that he was studying Mechanical Engineering at TAMU (we had several classes and a study group together) and sent him a letter in Farsi telling him that his payments were stopping and that he had to come home. He figured that he would be shot at the airport within five minutes of landing. He did not show up for our senior year so I have no idea what happened to him.
Lynn
I have tried to read "The Three-Body Problem" twice now and bounced
both times (DNF). You know, I have over 200 books that I have
bounced off of in my SBR.
On 12/24/2024 8:11 PM, Default User wrote:
200 rejected books? You need a better pre-filter, especially as you
are buying books. That's a significant waste of money. I'm not sure
I would consider books you won't read to be a strategic book
reserve.
My tastes have changed over the last 30+ years. For instance, I have
given up on Clive Custler and there are 2 or 3 of his in my SBR.
You know, I have learned a few things in my 64 years of life, that if
you want something and you have the funds, grab it. You never know if
that something will still be available in a year. Plus, I like
supporting authors, especially independent authors.
But the longest gap between buying a book and reading it would be in my
case 24 years, the book being De Camp's "The Ancient Engineers", which I >devoured on a Halifax-Fairbanks trip, cursing myself for not having read
it earlier.
As I recall it went Halifax-Toronto-Vancouver - Seattle - Anchorage- >Fairbanks. With a brief stop in Winnipeg.
The trip up the coast occurred in clear air conditions that, according
to my hosts, almost never happen. It was spectacular, especially Mt Logan.
I was told by virtually everyone I met that I was too late for the
Northern lights, but they put on a spectacular display that night. I was >almost too tired to see them by then, but I ventured out - we rarely see
much of a display in Toronto or Halifax.