Now on to Ringworld Engineers. And waiting for the next Harry Potter book.

Aren't we all... I'm gonna chance Children of the Jedi later, and hope it's not crap.

No, we're not. :P

I'm reading Silence of the Lambs right now, and it's killing me!

Nothing but my absence can cause my number of posts decreasing!
You should know me by now, Grondy. (scarily enough you do! :disturbed

read "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell today in my lit class...was pretty good, though kind of gross at the end... (I know this is the crazy smiley, but to me it looks kind of sick, so I'm using it for that...)

Plastic: Grondy won't do that, won't you, Grondy? *sweet look* :P

No seriously, if I get too irrelevant, delete them, please do... But do the same for Plastic...

I was reading Mapping the Deep for work and a Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse book for fun. Since joining this forum last week, however, I've put them both down and have started reading the Silmarillion again.
Thanks folks

Today I received my copy of just published The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams. Sadly, obtaining an autographed copy has been next to impossible, as he will no longer be making the book tours and can no longer hold a pen.

The book appears to be a compilation of things from Dougy's four Mac computers: an autobiography, short stories, articles, speeches, interviews, letters, and about 80 pages of his unfinished third Dirk Gently novel, as well as a few tributes by others.

Tonight I will start the reading in earnest.

Magician-Raymond E Feist
still great
And apart from the bad pun does that mean Children of the Jedi was good or bad?

I bet it wasn't as bad a Crystal Star or something....that was bad.

I finally read the 'Science of Discworld' Plastic. Brilliant that, bloody hilarious. Loved it.

Can't remember 'Splinter' although I know I've got it at home. Ugh - dunno which is worse - blue lightsaber for Vader or Leia & Luke bonking. All the Lando adventures were lousy too.

I was starting to read a clockwork orange a while ago, but my dad saw it and took it away from me. He said it was trash...

reading 'Things Fall Apart' for class now, and 'East Wind, West Wind' just for the heck of it...

Your library is truly terrible Tom.

Now reading the truly wonderful Dune by Frank Herbert. One of the very, very, very bestest books ever!

I'm half-way through Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt and haven't found much to laugh about. Seems he grew up and got religion: not the God fearing type as he was a self-confessed atheist, but more of the environmentalist type. I think he burned out with humor; it got old for him; it is also a tough act to keep up. His essays are good, as are his explanations of things, and I expect to find some humor near the end.

That's a bummer, I hate it when that happens.

A friend of mine is republishing Harry Stephen Keeler's novels in 4-1/4 by 5-3/4 inch paperbacks. When I found a paragraph missing on a partially blank page. He emailed the missing text, I reformatted it to fit, and made the paste in correction. He said the text was still in his computer so the omission was caused by his laser printer. He assembles each book by hand.

What pages 42? I could always scan 'em and send 'em over to you?
I'm also halfway through the Salmon of Doubt Grondy, and I think Mr Adams wit was firmly intact in his razor sharp observations of modern life. I'm still laughing as much as I ever did.

What do you mean by this Grondy? Whether she first thinks of what to say in Dutch and then translates it to English (or French or German) or whether she thinks of what to say in the language she wants to say it in? Whas this just a question or is it necessary to read Dune in English?

It was just a question. What I meant was, when you are, say writing something in English, French, German, Sanskrit, or Vulcan, can you think what you want to say in that language or do you have to think it in Dutch or Flemish first and then translate it to the non-native language as you write it down?

Sorry if I confused anyone with these piles of bull-shift. I suppose this just shows how ignorant I am about dual or multiple learned languages. I would assume that when one is proficient in a second language, one can think in it with very few stumbles due to insufficient vocabulary. I find Tommy's command of English is better than a lot of my fellow Americans.

It shouldn't be necessary to read Dune in English; however, by reading any work in the original language you get the postAuthorID's best shot at it, rather than reading it through the eyes and any limitations of the translator. Then again, if your command of the original language is less than that of the translator's, you may as well rely on the translation.

Grondy,
It has been my experience with French as a second language that I had to let go of English and think in French. Literal translation just messed me up and resulted in very strange looks from my francophone friends. The same with reading, I don't translate into English I just understand (or don't understand) what is written on the page. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to speak French in the last 3 years and I find it very difficult to change gears now. Like they say, "use it or lose it."
Rednell

Grondy,
I try to think in the language I have to speak or write in. Try to, because sometimes I don’t know the right words and I have to look them up. I have send a few private postBodys to Tommy in Dutch (or Flemish if you want) and I had some trouble with expressing myself because I am used to write in English on PT. However, a friend of mine thinks my English is very funny because I write Dutch sentences with English words.
I’m not so good at French (shame on me!) because I don’t have to use it regularly. I live in the Flemish part, work in at a Flemish company, so I seldom meet French speaking people. So it takes longer to actually start thinking in French. A few years ago I followed an intensive French course. During one month we had to speak nothing else but French for two hours a day, five days a week. After every session, when I went home, I was speaking French to myself. And when I read a book in English or French, I don’t translate what I read.

I never heard of the book 'Dune'. What's it about?

Just started reading "The Shelters of Stone" by Jean M. Auel.

Does anyone know why this writer waited 15 years to publish this book?

Thanks people, you make use of multiple languages sound operatioal, as long as one continues to expand ones vocabulary and have daily opportunities for practice.

I should let one of the others answer this; however, since I'm here I'll give it a try:


Dune was written by Frank Herbert and has been described asActually it is the start of an epic space opera with religious overtones of how the hero becomes a demi-god amid inter-family squabbles on a planetary scale with a devious Galactic Emperor, a counterbalancing council of business men, a sisterhood of political witches, and the drug snorting mutant operators of the spacefleet.

There have been numerous follow-on books which IMHO aren't nearly as good as the original. There have been one movie and one mini-series produced based on the original book; each of which has its followers and detractors.

My old boss decided to spoil my long vacation by ordering me to start work next month so I'm re-reading "The Handbook of Heat Treatment of Steels by Prabunov".

Oh 'eck, who wants to lend me 12 quid? I just found out that the Science of Discworld 2, The Globe, has just come out and I'm skint. But then it is my birthday soon, hmmmm..... must drop a few hints around....

I'd imagine it will be not unlike the first science of Discworld which was a very interesting book about the science of our own world, cleverly disguised as a funny story about wizards. I believe Mr. Ridcully et al will be messing about in our history in this one.