kingsoupnut

I think i take Sam Harris position as an outsider. Clinton is a horrible choice, but she's less horrible than the other choice. Honestly not to pry and not to judge too much but I'd say the political system might need a bit of a shake up if the best you've got to lead is Clinton/Trump. Then again we're fronted by Cameron. I'll stop.

A lot more progress with this. It's a massive tome, one of those tall books with small print and lots of pages where you read for an hour think you must have gotten through a chunk of the book and realize you've read 18 pages.

The history of South America is an interesting one and even though I was faintly aware of catholic Spain and its imprint on the world it's interesting to learn in greater detail about the Mexica and the conquistadors and the lay of the land post Cortez. 

So I've got from page 40 to page 52 in over a month... Not sure I'm going to finish it to be quite honest. It's very repetitive in nature and it keeps telling me I'm going to burn in hell because i don't believe what it says I should believe. I may have been kidding myself a little when I said I could stay impartial and only judge it once I'd finished. I'll try and get to page 100 and go from there, but it's not going great.

So I went to a music festival in Leicestershire and I took one of my EU books with me and left it in the tent. When I got back the tent was akin to a swimming pool it was that waterlogged. Never mind eh... 

Overall a vastly enlightening book that manages to put a complex body into an easily digestible format. This would be a fantastic starting point for anyone with no prior knowledge of the EU. Considering it was published in 2008 and is now 8 years old, a lot of its content is still surprisingly relevant. It gives a good account of both eurosceptic and pro-european viewpoints. My plan now is to read one or two other books including a more recent title and a few articles before I fully make my mind up over the referendum. My hope is to put forward an impartial guide shortly before the 23rd June, to give anyone still neutral, a decent account of the pros and cons of leaving/remaining.

This is a tough choice and one that I'm not surprised to find that there are pretty strong arguments on either side.  

I've not read too much for about a month. That's why I've been quiet on here, i'll get back into the swing of it soon though.

Anyway, over here in the UK towards the end of June we'll have the referendum on the EU and whether or not to leave it. So I have a month to put aside what I was reading and find a couple of decent books on the topic to get through so I can put in an informed vote. 

I also wanted to know what your thoughts are on the EU, I know many of those that actively follow my posts are Americans, so it would be interesting to know if any of you care about the EU generally or whether or not we leave or stay. 

Have good weeks guys.

I just hope someone with a beard and long hair has the good sense to run down the mountain screaming, "the beacons of Minas Tirith, the beacons are lit!!".

So 40 pages in and I'm extremely troubled. I said I'd freely express my opinion over the course of reading this book so here it is.

Positives so far: Charity is good, try to be charitable wherever possible. Ridiculously high Interest loans are bad.

Negatives: If you don't believe what we believe you will burn in fire. If you turn your back on Islam you will burn in fire. Don't marry unbelieving women or marry your children to unbelievers. 

It's similar to the Bible in a lot of ways which I expected from an Abrahamic religion and I'm only 40 pages in so I'm going to try and refrain from judging too harshly, but I'm struggling. It's hard not to see the assertion that anyone who doesn't believe what this says will be burnt in hell as bigotry.

Loved it. Thought I'd end up writing a massive review, but sadly I won't I think all I have to say is it is a must read for anyone who has an interest in science fiction. It feels slightly odd not to have any inspiration for a review.

Google: There Are 129,864,880 Books in the Entire World. How many books have ever been published in all of modern history? According to Google's advanced algorithms, the answer is nearly 130 million books, or 129,864,880, to be exact. 5 Aug 2010

So if i secure my 20 book challenge for the year and maintained that level for another 20 years I will have read 400 books by the time I'm in my 40s. That leaves just 129 million left to get through.

So my next undertaking will be a big one. Once I have finished the first book in the Dune series I will read the Qur'an. I picked it up a while back, not because I'm interested in becoming a Muslim, but purely because it is a religion that is constantly under the spotlight.

Islam in the West appears to be a religion that divides opinion like no other. On one hand you have those that believe it is a profoundly peaceful religion that can co exist with other belief systems, on the other hand you have those that believe, to put it lightly, that it is incompatible with modern societal values. There appears to be little middle ground.

My intention is to read with an open mind and go to the source. I will try to cut through the propaganda on both sides and deliver a reasoned, clear review. I appreciate that it is perhaps a touchy area, but I am a huge believer in freedom of speech and so I intend to be as truthful as I can be. I go into this having been raised in an environment that encouraged me to think for myself and to come to my own spiritual conclusions and so hopefully I will not go into this with an over reaching bias on either side.

Thoughts/advice are welcome. 

So it's only just fully dawned on me that Arrakis is the middle east, Paul Atreides is Muhammad, CHOAM are OPEC and the spice is oil. My head is now slightly wavey. 

Such a fantastically multi layered novel, you could delve into its ideas on politics, leadership and religion for years I think. This will probably be a five star review at the end. 

So there was a recent article from the BBC about the funding of libraries in the UK. Over here it seems since 2010 funding has been slashed drastically (because of the conservative attack on public spending most likely) and around 300 libraries have shut down. Paid staff have been cut and replaced with volunteers and the focus has shifted away from books to internet usage, tutoring, free WiFi etc.

I recently found St Pancras library and decided to sit in there after work primarily to work on my writing, but also to read. I was shocked to find that it closed at 8pm and was one of the latest opening public libraries in London. I've visited several times and the majority of visitors seem to be college kids in groups, parents with young children and possible homeless, a decent number of them sit at tables to use the power sockets to charge old phones.

There were few, if any, people reading the scant amount of books on offer. The 'quiet' zones are not observed. I think on my third visit, several children were actively running around screaming whilst the security guard strolled around unfazed. I just can't help but think it's a real shame. Libraries should be funded well, have plenty of staff and have enforced quiet areas for those that need it. There aren't many places in a big city to go where one can find peace and quiet. I think the homeless should be identified and encouraged to use the libraries facilities to improve their situations rather than to sit and use the plug sockets, gather newspapers for heat and be idle.

Seeing as I know quite a lot of you that follow me on here are from the USA. I wanted to ask what library provision is like over the pond and if you have similar issues and do you believe that perhaps libraries are becoming redundant in their old form?

Went into Waterstones to buy a history book on either the middle east or the balkans. Ended up with a 650 page history of Mexico... Yeah I don't know either.

Gripping. I Was wary about this because of its reputation as a sci-fi classic. The last sci fi classic I read was Asimov's foundation. That was decent enough but I didn't think it was earth shattering and if anything it took me away from sci-fi books, but this, so far is great.