cambridgefox Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 The best book i have read this year is one a friend of mine co wrote,it will not interest many of you,if any"Fenland Pike"Well written loads of pictures of my mates and the history of the fens with ways to fish the rivers and drains,in my area. I might start a thread on fishing(pike)but i could well be having a one way conversation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trav Le Bleu Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 Probably both been mentioned but Yes Man by Danny Wallace and Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby were both ridiculously readable. Recommended like a boss. Fever Pitch is a top book that would be much better with an "insert your club's name here" space every time it said Arsenal! Right now I'm reading "Are You Dave Gorman?" which was co-written by Danny Wallace. It's more than interesting so far. If you like Yes Man, you might like... which apparently is being made into a film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Rod Hull Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 Just finished it. Solid bit of work. Wish I was an archer... Is that factual or fictional ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxyPV Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 Really enjoyable biography of a man who gave up so much for that **** Marx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydos Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 Fever Pitch is a top book that would be much better with an "insert your club's name here" space every time it said Arsenal! Right now I'm reading "Are You Dave Gorman?" which was co-written by Danny Wallace. It's more than interesting so far. If you like Yes Man, you might like... which apparently is being made into a film. Know what you mean, it just made me look forward to when i'm a bit older and I can looks back on all that's happened. Will probably regret going to more games but when i'm out of uni hopefull a season ticket Sadly though, it sounds like the best days of going down the football as a lad are long gone My flatmate's mentioned that book to me before, might see if shes got it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 18 January 2011 Share Posted 18 January 2011 Just finished it. Solid bit of work. Wish I was an archer... Read that, quite enjoyable. IIrc it's part of a trilogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trav Le Bleu Posted 19 January 2011 Share Posted 19 January 2011 I've read loads of Bernard Cornwall and quite enjoy his work but they are all a bit rinse and repeat in a different time. The Warlord Trilogy (just after the collapse of Roman occupation in England, about 500AD), The Saxon Storys (Alfred the Great, which is the end of the 8th Cemntury if memory serves) and the Grail Questtrilogy (14th Century, set during the Hundred Years War) and certainly the stand alone book Stonehenge all carry the theme of displaced youngster, loses inheritance, rises to fame/power amongst his adopted people and returns to claim rightful inheritance against all adversity. I've got Azincourt tucked away to read somewhere and I hope it steers away from this formula. It's not part of a trilogy Webbo, it's a stand alone, but I can understand the mistake, I thought it was part of the Grail Quest trilogy too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 19 January 2011 Share Posted 19 January 2011 I've got Azincourt tucked away to read somewhere and I hope it steers away from this formula. It's not part of a trilogy Webbo, it's a stand alone, but I can understand the mistake, I thought it was part of the Grail Quest trilogy too! Oh well it was a year or 2 ago when I read it. I have read the Grail quest trilogy, or at least 2 of them, always a good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor Posted 10 February 2011 Share Posted 10 February 2011 The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals. Some of the stuff FIFA have been up to is absolutely disgusting but worst of all, unsuprising, not even up to the blatter years yet either. The corruption goes deep into politics by the looks of things: General Franco and the argentine government in the early 70's have both been involved in what i've read so far. Also seeing an interesting coincidence - the corruption really kicked off in 1974, when Joao Havelange and Horst Dassler got involved in some underhand tactics, bribing several officials to ensure Havelange won the FIFA presidenct ahead of Stan Rous, the chief at the time and the last englishman to be president of FIFA - Was Stan Rousand his predecessor, also english, the only people stopping modern football from turning out the way it has or is the timing just by luck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxyPV Posted 10 February 2011 Share Posted 10 February 2011 I've been reading a lot of his stuff recently- would recommend it to anyone who like Murakami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozwin Posted 10 February 2011 Share Posted 10 February 2011 Anyone got a Kindle? Thinking of getting one but can't seem to justify it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkwell Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 Anyone got a Kindle? Thinking of getting one but can't seem to justify it. There are actually quite a lot of titles these days that are only being released on eBook format (unless you only like bestsellers), especially by new authors. This is a good site - smashwords.com - a lot of new talent and available in multiple format (incl. kindle) I downloaded thisbook, just based on the fact that it was based in Leicester - it was actually really good... quite funny and dramatic and, IIRC, it ends in the Fan Club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingari Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 There are actually quite a lot of titles these days that are only being released on eBook format (unless you only like bestsellers), especially by new authors. This is a good site - smashwords.com - a lot of new talent and available in multiple format (incl. kindle) I downloaded thisbook, just based on the fact that it was based in Leicester - it was actually really good... quite funny and dramatic and, IIRC, it ends in the Fan Club I was interested and slightly disturbed by the description of Leicester as , "an English Midlands city with its prime well in the past." some mistake surely !! Leicester is often portrayed by the local Apparatchiks as a colourful , vibrant, multi cultural utopian dreamland transformed from the old drudgery of victorian industry . Will the real Leicester please stand up ? ( a lot of our money is spent by the council on PR to promote this new image though. And I sometimes wonder why ? ) For some answers , i'd like to take the opportunity to again recommend this book by Heather Brooke ( she that helped blow open the MPs expenses scandal ) it's similar in many ways to "flat earth news" and "bad science" , but i think more likely to induce incandescent rage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 Anyone got a Kindle? Thinking of getting one but can't seem to justify it. If you can afford it buy one they're great. Although it's illegal and I wouldn't recommend it there are sites where you can download books for free. The kindle will eventually pay for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trav Le Bleu Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 About 150 pages too long. The idea is fun at first but it soon gets boring, though I am ploughing on until the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDog Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 Measuring The World by Daniel Kehlmann. Think I've mentioned this book before, but I've just finished reading it again and it really is one of the best I've read and I highly recommend it. It's a story (some fiction but alot of non-fiction, but reads just like a fiction novel) about two scientists - Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Gauss - from the late 1700's and early 1800's. It's very funny and extremely interesting and thought provoking. Humboldts (and Bonpland) travels around the mountains and rivers of South America make Indiana Jones look like Unadventurous Barry from the Labour Club up the road. The man didn't know the meaning of the word fear. Has anyone else read this book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDog Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 And yeah, the Kindles are pretty good and it's worth owning one. I bought my Mrs a Sony one. I prefer a normal book, but say if you're reading in bed lying down or summat, it is much comfier on the hands just holding one of these. The best thing about them is when you are travelling or going on holiday they are much smaller than normal books and you can carry a hundred or more books with you at once in a small package. Also, if like me you fall asleep, drop your book and forget which page you were on, you don't have to spend five minutes looking for where you were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilo Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 I'm going to sound like a real Luddite here but I can't imagine myself getting a Kindle. There's just something about reading a book that feels more comfortable, even at uni I'd much rather print off notes than read them from a screen. It's purely psychological, sometimes it's important to have something tangible in your hands rather than looking at an LCD screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosse Boy Posted 11 February 2011 Share Posted 11 February 2011 Is that factual or fictional ? Fiction but he really does his research well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOCCERROO FOX Posted 12 February 2011 Share Posted 12 February 2011 About 150 pages too long. The idea is fun at first but it soon gets boring, though I am ploughing on until the end. The TV show is brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajthefox Posted 12 February 2011 Share Posted 12 February 2011 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell was very interesting read, not particularly scientific but one that I kept wanting to read more of and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely is my current book, been good and again one of those that keeps you reading. Both pretty relaxed and easy to read books on psychology, the second relates to some basic consumer economics though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDog Posted 12 February 2011 Share Posted 12 February 2011 I'm going to sound like a real Luddite here but I can't imagine myself getting a Kindle. There's just something about reading a book that feels more comfortable, even at uni I'd much rather print off notes than read them from a screen. It's purely psychological, sometimes it's important to have something tangible in your hands rather than looking at an LCD screen. I know what you are saying, and I agree with the preferring a real book, but once I tried the Sony Reader (only because there was a book on it that I wanted to read and didn't have) I begrudgingly didn't have any complaints! It felt like reading a book and the screen even looked like a book page. It's different than reading off the pc screen and the layout and look of pages is the same as the book. That said I still prefer a real book made out of paper and you cannae beat a good browse through someones book shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor Posted 12 February 2011 Share Posted 12 February 2011 that book about corruption in fifa i mentioned earlier has raised a very interesting issue: The author claims there is strong evidence to suggest high ranking qatari persons funded blatter's 1998 fifa president election campaign, there are also allegations from one of the representatives in fifa: Lennart Johansson and Michel Zen-Ruffinen, then FIFA general secretary, confirmed to me that Addo's (Farah Addo, then vice-president of african football) 1998 congress registration documents had been altered to exclude him from voting, although they did not say by whom. They later said they had insisted his accreditation was returned to him. Addo later asserted that at least 18 African officials, although publicly committed to Johansson, had sold thieir country's votes to supporters of Blatter. That would be enought to swing the result. If claims by Addo and others are true, then Blatter is an illegitimate president and Johansson was robbed. hrrm, Qatar officials would have ben aware of this if they were funding Blatter's campaign - Quite a nice bombshell to have to ensure Blatter and FIFA do what you want - could that be why they won the 2022 WC despite having a terrible bid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingari Posted 13 February 2011 Share Posted 13 February 2011 found this in a charity shop , it's very very funny i used to love his weekly column in the saturday guardian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoph Posted 14 February 2011 Share Posted 14 February 2011 Does anybody know a good site for university books? I found some random pdfs of full fledge booked worth like 30 quid, wondering if there was a site out there that is good on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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