Ry Recommends

As per my beautiful girlfriend's suggestion in my post, A Year of Reading, I've decided to review, well more recommend, ten of my favorite books. So quite honestly the Dune series is probably one of the favorite things I read this past year, in my entire life actually, but seeing as I already wrote about back in July , I'll refrain from putting it in my list. I've also decided to only put them in alphabetical order because I can't put one over the other, it's too hard!

• Anthem by Ayn Rand ~ This is a must read for anyone even slightly interested in dystopian fiction. It totally compares to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley's Brave New World, and actually does something different with the genre. I'm not sure when or even how it happened, but I became utterly enthralled with the whole dystopian scene, I re-read Orwell and Huxley, picked up the "grandfather of dystopian novels" We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Atwood, and this literary crack eventually led me to which I talk about later on here. One of the great things about Anthem is the fact Rand hadn't yet fully developed her philosophy, which she stuffs into her later novels. The other fantastic aspect to her novel here is the style. Rand writes a book in essentially first person, but in a world where first person doesn't exist. It's crazy intense and honestly must have been amazingly difficult to accomplish, yet she does it with ease. I'm not going to try and summarize Anthem because it would be far too easy to spoil various aspects, I'll just say that if you liked Orwell and Huxley read Rand!
  
  
• Choke by Chuck Palahniuk ~ Vile, wretched, disgusting, disturbing, classic Chuck! I picked up Choke I was still in a way a Palahniuk virgin -I had only read Fight Club at the time- which, as anyone who's read Palahniuk knows, is considerably "lighter" compared to his usual style. Chuck breaks all the rules on what "fiction" should be, this isn't Jane Austin or Steinbeck, he crosses every line there is, sex, morals, God, suicide, abortion, you name it and Chuck will open your eyes. This being said, he does it with a certain taste, as much taste as you can have, anyway, when your main character is a sociopathic con artist who just happens to be addicted to sex. Definitely a fun read, though, and especially refreshing for anyone who's used to the main stream book scene. Not for the squeamish, religious, morally sound, easily offended person. Once you go Chuck, you never go back.
  
  
• Elantris by Brandon Sanderson ~ This was Sanderson's debut novel and also the novel that won over Robert Jordan's widow enough to choose him to write the final book in the Wheel of Time series. I've always been surprised when an author can actually pull off writing a fantasy book in only one book, but Sanderson does just that, and he does it well. was a very well written book and definitely gave a unique view on fantasy, one which, I for one, enjoyed immensely. Though, since it was Sandersons first book, it is a bit unpolished, which doesn't really take away from the story much, just something to note if you're a neurotic reader and can't stand even minor mistakes. Sanderson has an acclaimed series out now which I'll probably pick up when I have more time, but if you're looking for a nice light fantasy check out Elantris.
  
  
• The J-Curve by Ian Bremmer ~ This was the first political science book I've ever read, and although there were several non-fiction books I enjoyed more--such as by MalcolmGladwell-- but Bremmers book was by far the most insightful. As I've said here, I have this weird obsession with dystopian societies and while reading The J-Curve I realized a few things. First of which is that North Korea is just a stones throw away from being a classic Orwellian society, the reason it isn't, though, is the very premise of Bremmers book. The more closed a society is, the harder it is for said society to stay stable, so the only way for closed societies to stay stable is to become more and more closed. This is exactly why the U.S. foreign policy is so wrong, by putting these sanctions on countries like Cuba and North Korea, we enable them to stay even more authoritarian and keep these dictators in power. We need to help these countries move to global openness, democracy will by its nature throw these dictators out of power. If only the people running our foreign policy would read this book, but maybe someone who goes into foreign policy will read this and keep it in mind and someday change the world! (Ha as if I'm that influential)
  
  
• Lamb by Christopher Moore ~ Generally I haven't read a whole lot of comedy books, but Lamb was recommended to me by a friend so I thought I'd give it a shot. Strictly speaking, I suppose, it isn't really a comedy book, it's really a fiction with a good flare of comedy and satire. That being said, Moore is a fantastic author, his style is clean and strong, his descriptions are amazing, and he can write satire with the best of them. Basically Lamb is about Christs childhood all the way up to his crucifixion, and even though I'm not the most religiously educated person, this was hilarious! It's written by Christ's best friend Biff, who is resurrected by a ditsy angel to tell his story. Whether you're religious or not Lamb is a lighthearted good read, and will give anyone a good laugh. The hardcover is even printed as a Bible look-alike, all the way down to the little strip of ribbon used to mark your page!
  
  
• Next by Michael Crichton ~ First let me start out by saying that Crichton was by far one of the best authors of our generation, and when he died on November 5h, 2008 we were all deeply dismayed. He will be missed. Next is a techno-thriller set in what could be the very near future--as the majority of his novels are--and follows several bioengineering plot lines. At first they all seem to be independent, but Crichton, as usual, ties up all the strings in the end magnificently. Though this isn't quite the genius that was Jurassic Park it is a fantastic look at the future of bioengineering and the possible ramifications of messing around with DNA. Anyone interested in science with a flair of mystery/thriller should check out Next, especially those interested in biology.
  
  
• Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks ~ After you've read 6+ fantasy books you began to see a pattern. Indeed many themes reoccur in fantasy, young innocent character has secret power, found by a 'mentor' type and told to save the world from certain doom, goes on hero's quest to save world, gains companions to help share the load, fights evil with newly discovered powers, saves the day. It's actually really disappointing after awhile, you end up looking for books that do this the best. I picked up Brent Weeks first book on a whim, and too my delight, he did something I've never seen with a fantasy. That being he made it super dark, the main character not only in conflict with "evil" but part of the evil. This is one of my favorite new authors, he did something new and refreshing, and dark with a now overpopulated genre. Not only that he made a character you love to hate, as well as a whole cast of unique companions. This is by far a must read for anyone looking for something new in the fantasy world.
  
  
• Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. ~ I had seen the movie with Jared Leto a couple times before I read the book, but nothing could prepare me for just how intense the book was. I know better than anyone that books are far better than the movies based off them, but holy hell. This was like the difference between an amoeba and a human brain! Selby goes into some of the darkest aspects of humans nature; from addiction to obsession, and he does it in such a way you feel the characters pain. It's brilliant, but terribly depressing. By far one of the most depressing books I've ever read, up there with A Child Called It--which more than anything is depressing because it's a true story-- yet the same can probably be said about Requiem. Sure not the same characters or the exact same experiences but the human tragedy is all too real. Dark, depressing, morbid, graphic, but something I think that everyone should read if for nothing more to open their eyes to what can happen and most likely does happen in our country.
  
  
• Revelation Space Trilogy by Alastair Reynolds ~Let me be clear here, the books I'm talking about are indeed Reynolds Trilogy (Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap), but also Chasm City which is part of the same universe. In any case, I picked up the first book just out of curiosity because I didn't really know what a Space Opera was. I was seriously glad I did. The crazy part is the fact that this is Reynolds first set of books! I have recently become fairly obsessive about colonization recently, and this trilogy is what colonization could do for the human race some day! Granted it's rather far fetched, but oh man how amazing would something like this be? Reynolds isn't the run of the mill sci-fi author, he writes what is called hard sci-fi, which basically everything in his books is possible. Indeed, Reynolds has a PhD in Astronomy and worked for the European Space Agency through last year, so it's certainly closer to being real than, say, The Matrix. Reynolds also writes in a fairly dark manner, especially when you think that his scenarios could very well be true.
  

• Snow Crash by Neal Stevenson ~ This was the first cyberpunk I've ever read and good god it was amazing! Cyberpunk is a branch of Sci-Fi that combines "high tech with low life", (thanks wiki), which means hackers in almost dystopian futures. The story follows a hacker named Hiro Protagonist, I know real clever Stevenson, who is also a Japanese martial arts enthusiast. This is probably one of the other reasons I enjoyed Snow Crash so much, I have a strange obsession with Japanese history especially martial arts if you don't know me, Stevenson combines a fantastic dark, humorous, fun future with great fight scenes. Much of the book takes place in something called The Metaverse , which is essentially the Internet at it's most intense; think Matrix minus the killer machines. I really can't do Stevenson justice in his plotting because he masterfully combines several stories, that in the end somehow all wrap up in the end. Basically Hiro and his street punk friend Y.T. discover a drug called Snow Crash that not only kills your computer, but completely screws up hackers minds. That's the other thing I loved about this book, Stevenson is one of those authors that knows what he's talking about and does his research if he doesn't. Even though Snow Crash came out in '92 many of the psychological, anthropological, linguistical, and even technological ideas are still relevant and insightful today. I'd recommend Snow Crash to anyone interested in technology, sci-fi, even dystopian-esque books, really I think everyone should read it or at least give it a shot!
  

Wow I totally got carried away with this. I first intended this to be a couple sentences, maybe a couple days worth of work, but no.. I started this on the 6th! Okay part of the slowness is the fact that I'm lazy and wasn't doing many a day. Either way, I hope that someone finds joy in one of the books I've suggested. Maybe I'll do this again soon, well not soon, but at some point haha.

Some Art

So I'm rather bored and I figured I'd share some of my art. It isn't too good, nor is it very recent, but feel free to comment and criticize if you wish. I'm not gonna post all of it just cause I have a lot but I'll certainly post some of my favorites.



I don't even remember how I made this, but it's one of my favorites.



I made this one in CG class back in high school about primary colors.



I took this in Paris, obviously. Click for full size!







There's tons more, but these were the ones on my deviantART. I especially like Eye of the Tiger, Eye of Agony, Handy, Ice Steps, and The Tower. Well I like a lot of my silly "art", in any case I hope you like it too! Stupid photobucket screwed the size of the picture sizes up, click on 'em for the full view.

Vocabulary

First off I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, let the food be good, and the naps even better. As for you shoppers out there, get a good night's sleep and beware the crowds! I've only been out shopping once on Black Friday and it was pretty intense I'm not gonna lie. There's some damn good deals out there though, I might hit the stores so I can get a special someone a special something :)

Anyway, as all two readers out there have noticed, I have a wretched vocabulary. I also can't spell nor use grammar nearly the way I should. Alas I'm not terribly interested in the latter, Fire Fox and Word take care of spelling, and friends and teachers point out my grammar plenty. So that leaves me with my 3rd grade vocabulary. Now I know there's plenty of harebrained techniques out there, learn a new word every day and use it in as many sentences as you can, which probably work, but I'm lazy. A customer at my work came in a couple months ago looking for a nice hardbound dictionary. No joke some of those dictionaries are really nice, and I was stunned to find that he was going to highlight words he didn't know. He was about 60, a really nice, one of those cool old guys that I wanna be when I'm old. He explained that as he reads whenever he comes across a word he doesn't know he'll look it up and highlight it. I didn't really think much of it at the time, kinda a neat idea I'll admit, but nothing that captured my attention for long. I guess it stuck though, I've been almost compelled to buy a dictionary since I spoke with that guy. I thought it was just a novel idea seeing as I wanna write better, but it seems his little technique rooted itself into my subconscious and finally wormed it's way out. Naturally because I'm so cheap I never got around to buying a full price dictionary-- they're freaking expensive-- but on Sunday I found a Oxford Pocket American Dictionary of Current English for a steal of $2.99. Well really with my 33% discount it came to around $2.13 with tax :P. It took til just today, I dunno why now, to realize that old man was the reason I got the dictionary.

Granted I read a whole hell of a lot--clicky-- and I'm sure that there's plenty of words I don't know as well as I should. So I'm gonna try this highlighting thing out and maybe go through the dictionary like, what? At the end of every month? I'll work the kinks out I suppose. One thing I know I'll have trouble with is admitting I don't know a word and then sucking it up and looking it up. I've been trying it, its hard! I don't think people realize just how much they don't know until something like this, and indeed I know a lot of words through context but that isn't quite the same. Some authors I've been reading recently are rather clever with their word choice, I wouldn't have even known! I'm toying with the idea of even typing up the words and the definitions here in my blog, but I'm not so sure about it. The people I know for a fact that read my blog are all way smarter than I am and I'm not so sure I'm willing to show how utterly retarded I really am. Though, I know none of them will openly say how dumb I am, I know they'll think it! Maybe I'll type it up in word and when I feel a bit more confident post it here? We'll see haha. Now that I'm doing this I think it may actually help with spelling a little, maybe? I really don't know, but I'm optimistic.

Speaking of Word, I know a couple of my friends use Blogger and I had a question. Recently I have been writing some of my blog posts up in Word first and when I tried to post it Blogger freaked out. Apparently, Word 2007 has some weird HTML that copies over here and screws up Blogger. Has anyone else experienced this? I should probably just ask the Blogger people, but yeah.

A Year of Reading

Since I began working at Borders I've kept a log of all the books I've read. Mind you, this log is only from November 19th 2007-- I've read probably triple if not more books in the course of my life-- so it’s rather short. Hopefully I'll keep this log up to date for the rest of my life, then when I'm 40 I'll be able to be like whoa! It'll also help with the nasty problem of not knowing if I've read a book or not. I've found this extremely irritating of late, I'll pick up a book, think it looks pretty good, buy it, only to get like a chapter in and realize I've read it. It’s not a huge hassle but when I'm the reading zone its shitty to go back and find another book. Anyway here it is, I figured posting it a year from when I started would be kinda neat.

• A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
• Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
• Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
• Next by Michael Crichton
• Monster by Frank Peretti
• Empire by Orson Scott Card
• Paranoia by Joseph Finder
• Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Heor
• Stiff by Mary Roach
• Anthem by Ayn Rand
• Brimstone by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dance of Death by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
• Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
• God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
• Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
• Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• Robota by Orson Scott Card
• Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
• Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
• Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
• Lamb by Christopher Moore
• Awakened Mage by Karen Miller
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
• Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
• Feed by M.T. Anderson
• Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
• Click by Bill Tancer
• Final Theory by Mark Alpert
• The J-Curve by Ian Bremmer
• The Sword by Deborah Chester
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Ring by Deborah Chester
• The Chalice by Deborah Chester
• Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
• The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
• Sway by Rom Brafman
• Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
• Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks
• Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
• Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
• Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

Total: 55

Note: The books in bold I own, the non-bolded books I read at work or borrowed from a friend. In my personal list I have each of the books rated from 1 to 10 but I decided to hold off on that simply because I'm probably pretty biased. Plus how can you rate a Fantasy against a Mystery or a Fiction?

Here in America reading has become one of those things that everyone wants to do but is "too busy" to do. Back in 2007 the Associated Press did a poll concerning just that, what they found is honestly saddening to me. "One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday [August 21, 2007]" This quote was taken from a Washington Post article that was written on the day the Ipsos poll was released. I don't know the details of the poll exactly but even if its somewhat true this country is in trouble. I did a little snooping around recently after I found the aforementioned article and found a somewhat 'better' set of figures. These numbers came from the Harris Poll:

TABLE 1

BOOKS READ PER YEAR

"How many books do you typically read in the average year?"

Base: All adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Political Party
		Echo Boomers (18-31)	Gen X (32-43)	Baby Boomers (44-62)	Matures (63+)	Men	Women	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
None	9	6	7	9	12	11	7	10	8	7
1-3	23	28	24	23	15	27	18	23	24	18
4-6	19	18	22	20	15	22	17	22	17	20
7-10	13	12	11	14	11	11	14	13	15	11
More than 10	37	36	36	33	47	29	44	33	35	44

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

As you can see roughly 1/3 of Americans read more than 10 books a year, which is good. It’s hard to say which of the two polls is more accurate and indeed from what I found both seem fairly legit. In any case, I'd say that we should be reading more. Granted my opinion is a bit biased seeing as I've read 55 books this year but even still. 10 books aren’t really that many if you think of the amount of time Americans sit in front of the tv or even the computer. Sure some people really don't enjoy reading at all and sure many find a movie or a reality tv show more entertaining than their imagination.. still.. the human mind is a great thing. When I read it feels like I'm watching a movie with actors that put real people to shame, with views and imagery that an HD tv can only dream of making. If you think about it television and movies are just dumbed down books, and if ANYONE thinks there's a movie based on a book that’s better than said book they have a poor imagination indeed. Why would you settle for someone else's imagination? What you can do with your mind is so wonderful that it’s sad to think some people go their lives without reading. Authors not only give you all the tools to create a world in your head but they can also give you meaning. What are you gonna learn about the world by watching American Idol? Pick up 1984, A Red Sky at Morning, Dante's Inferno, East of Eden, or any other number of classics out there and you'll discover not only a fantastic story but symbolism, satire, and a touch of politics. All of which with such intensity that there's no way a tv show or even a 2 hour movie could put it all in. Hell, if you're not into the "dry" classic stuff they forced you to read in high school pick up Alastair Reynolds or Neal Stevenson and you'll learn something.

Well I suppose I'll stop preaching now, I hope this possibly interested some of you into reading or at least picking up one of the books I've mentioned. If not, well, all the power to you it’s your life after all. If there are any questions about the books above or any sort of recommendations I can make, feel free to hit me up.

Who Am I?

This is a question that’s been haunting humans since the dawn of time. How it has been answered has varied over the years and though I am far from well educated in what people have said I have some ideas of my own. Perhaps they can’t even be called ideas so much as a response to a certain viewpoint I’ve encountered. Really I don’t know what the “I” is or even how I would respond if someone asked “who are you?”. Perhaps there is no answer, but I think there are things that dictate just who we are.

The psychological idea of “roles” has always seemed natural to me, even before I knew the term “roles” or what the idea behind it was. I guess I always had this sort of thought in my head. I am a son, a friend, a lover, a student, a worker, a stranger, a boy, a citizen--both of the world and my country -- a human, and a million other things that I can’t name right this moment. The thing I’m responding to I’ve encountered twice so far, it’s the thought that says “There are no roles. I’m the exact same person to everyone, everywhere.” Now I can almost understand not wanting to admit your personality is dictated by those around you, but this form of egotism is ridiculous to me. I realize that many of the roles that we live each day are almost one in the same, but even yet there are enough differences between any two that it’s impossible to say you’re the same person around everyone. For example, you chat and laugh and joke around with your friends, sure you can do all those things with your parents, but it’s significantly different. You won’t go telling your mom about the crazy sex you had with your girlfriend last night or your dad about how much you drank the previous night. Even the way you act around people changes depending on the role you’re in. It’s a happy little thought that you control how you act in any circumstances, but to those egotists out there, you don’t control your actions nearly as much as you so pompously think. The very nature of roles are so deeply ingrained in our heads that it’s just not something you can control. Sure you can have a certain degree of freedom in your actions, you can whisper sweet nothings into your friend’s ears if you wish, but you’ll be criticized for it. Now from what I understand of egotism, albeit not much, they take great offence to the above example. “You’re actions should be done for you and no one else” is the main idea I gather. I agree, what you do should be entirely on your own personal set of morals, but as much as you despise it the fact is humans are social creatures.

The worst form of punishment, no not death, but the form of punishment that will break anyone no matter their philosophy, their nationality, their race, their age, nor their gender is isolation. The human brain has evolved in such a way that it thrives on interaction; it works its best being presented with new ideas, new viewpoints, and new people. The very act of speaking to another human being stimulates the brain in many ways. To think that any human can be so self assured, so self centered, to bypass millions of years of evolutionary hardwiring is idiotic. Granted, there are social hermits out there, people that despise all form of interaction, but sadly for those egotists, it’s not them. I’ll even be generous and say that even if you’re the exception and treat everyone the exact same way in every situation you wouldn’t be looked on with any bit of admiration. Like it or not, even if you’re so all mighty and great, the rest of us aren’t. Being a functioning member of society means you have a certain set of obligations to people, those obligations dictate how you should act in certain instances. So if you go telling your parents how hard you fucked some girl last night, or tell your boss to go screw off like you would one of your friends, you’re going to be an outcast. Sure you’ll be self righteous and almighty knowing that you broke social code, but what will your life be like? A year of that and what job would you have? What friends? What lovers?

Now, even if you can accomplish this feat and keep any sort of social contact outside of yourself, you’re going to be one bland, wretchedly boring person. Perhaps you’ve read this far and said “I don’t tell my friends about the crazy sex I have, or any of the examples you’ve given Ryan. I’m confident in who I am and I don’t do anything to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Okay, perhaps you have accomplished this, but what kind of personality is that? Humans are meant to be different, are meant to have a will. There’s two ways the above can be accomplished. You can be a complete arrogant ass and truly say whatever you want to say to whoever you want, but keep it toned down enough that it doesn’t get you in trouble. Or you’re the most boring person in the world because if you treat a three year old the exact same way you treat your boss, your friends, and your lover, you have no personality. MacIntyre said our lives are the stories that we tell, what kind of story is going to be told that has not differences, no interactions. Part of what makes us human is all the characters we play, all slightly different, yet all wrapped up in this indivisible thing called “I”.

Who I am depends greatly on who I’m with, but yet I feel that there is indeed some deep down thing that links all of the different roles. Maybe they’re just fleeting similarities or even just something my human-ness needs in order to try and understand the world around me. Either way, to me, being the exact same person around everyone is impossible, no matter if you like it or not situation dictates who you are. Perhaps only in such a small way that you think you’re being the exact same, but really there’s something different. The vocabulary you use, the emotion you show—or don’t show for that matter—your body language, any number of things. It isn’t a bad thing, it’s a wonderful thing in my opinion. On the flip side, there is some truth to the egotistical argument. To be completely and utterly different solely based on who your with is hypocritical. To be a devout catholic in church and a horrible person on the street is just wrong. There exists, at least in my opinion, a balance of the two that make humans great.