The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **~Alima~** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:23 pm

Jude Terror wrote:We should read this:

that sounds good too.

by **Allen** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:23 pm

I'd rather read something more modern than a Ray Chandler book, to be honest.

Besides, Dashiell Hammett was better than Chandler. :twisted:

by **~Alima~** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:50 pm

Another book I heard was great. It's supposedly pretty funny.
http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life/dp/0393068471

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2010: With her wry humor and inextinguishable curiosity, Mary Roach has crafted her own quirky niche in the somewhat staid world of science writing, showing no fear (or shame) in the face of cadavers, ectoplasm, or sex. In Packing for Mars, Roach tackles the strange science of space travel, and the psychology, technology, and politics that go into sending a crew into orbit. Roach is unfailingly inquisitive (Why is it impolite for astronauts to float upside down during conversations? Just how smelly does a spacecraft get after a two week mission?), and she eagerly seeks out the stories that don't make it onto NASA's website--from SPCA-certified space suits for chimps, to the trial-and-error approach to crafting menus during the space program's early years (when the chefs are former livestock veterinarians, taste isn't high on the priority list). Packing for Mars is a book for grownups who still secretly dream of being astronauts, and Roach lives it up on their behalf--weightless in a C-9 aircraft, she just can't resist the opportunity to go "Supermanning" around the cabin. Her zeal for discovery, combined with her love of the absurd, amazing, and stranger-than-fiction, make Packing for Mars an uproarious trip into the world of space travel. --Lynette Mong

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From Publishers Weekly
Roach (Stiff) once again proves herself the ideal guide to a parallel universe. Despite all the high-tech science that has resulted in space shuttles and moonwalks, the most crippling hurdles of cosmic travel are our most primordial human qualities: eating, going to the bathroom, having sex and bathing, and not dying in reentry. Readers learn that throwing up in a space helmet could be life-threatening, that Japanese astronaut candidates must fold a thousand origami paper cranes to test perseverance and attention to detail, and that cadavers are gaining popularity over crash dummies when studying landings. Roach's humor and determined curiosity keep the journey lively, and her profiles of former astronauts are especially telling. However, larger questions about the "worth" or potential benefits of space travel remain ostensibly unasked, effectively rendering these wild and well-researched facts to the status of trivia. Previously, Roach engaged in topics everyone could relate to. Unlike having sex or being dead, though, space travel pertains only to a few, leaving the rest of us unsure what it all amounts to. Still, the chance to float in zero gravity, even if only vicariously, can be surprising in what it reveals about us.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

by **David Bird** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:00 am

Read it. It is! Though it may kill any dreams you may have of going into space anytime soon.

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:51 am

Allen wrote:I'd rather read something more modern than a Ray Chandler book, to be honest.

Besides, Dashiell Hammett was better than Chandler.

Blasphemy! That's my favorite book of all time.

by **xaraan** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:02 am

Doesn't matter to me, most of what I've seen looks interesting as long as it's not crazy long, still have a stack of reading to work on as well.

by **David Bird** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:17 am

So far we've got:

Alima: Mozart’s Shadow
Alima: Packing For Mars
Chubbles: The Infection
Contramundi: Age of Odin
David Bird: 1984
Jude Terror: The Long Goodbye

by **xaraan** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:36 am

somebody roll a die and pick one

1984? what am I... in highschool english again?

by **David Bird** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:58 am

xaraan wrote:somebody roll a die and pick one

1984? what am I... in highschool english again?

Its a good book.

by **Allen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:17 am

How about The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl?

It's a murder mystery featuring Henry Longfellow and Oliver Wndell Holmes trying to figure out a murderer using Dante's Inferno as inspiration.

by **Allen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:21 am

David Bird wrote:So far we've got:

Alima: Mozart’s Shadow
Alima: Packing For Mars
Chubbles: The Infection
Contramundi: Age of Odin
David Bird: 1984
Jude Terror: The Long Goodbye

Of these, I would probably prefer Mozart's Shadow.

Or the Dante Club.

by **David Bird** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:32 am

Alima: In Mozart’s Shadow
Alima: Packing For Mars
Allen: The Dante Club
Chubbles: The Infection
Contramundi: Age of Odin
David Bird: 1984
Jude Terror: The Long Goodbye

Or, listed in order of (my) preference:

David Bird: 1984
Alima: Packing For Mars
Jude Terror: The Long Goodbye
Alima: In Mozart’s Shadow
Allen: The Dante Club
Chubbles: The Infection
Contramundi: Age of Odin

by **xaraan** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:07 pm

Mozart's Shadow sounds interesting to me.

by **David Bird** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:21 pm

Maybe everyone could rank the seven choices?

by **Allen** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:43 pm

1. Allen: The Dante Club
2. Alima: In Mozart's Shadow
3. Alima: Packing For Mars
4. Chubbles: The Infection
5. Contramundi: Age of Odin
6. Jude: The Long Goodbye
7. David Bird: 1984

I've already read The Long Goodbye and 1984