Book suggestions

[Derek]

Added to my "to read list." Are you sure that it is plagiarized or that it provided influence to Orwell? Wikipedia leads me to think that it provided influence, but I'd like to hear more about this interesting book.

I have read it. I liked 1984 better.

And plagiarism is a strong word. Almost everything out there was influenced from something else. Just because it has a similar theme does not mean it was copied.

Thanks for the clarification, although I was pretty sure this was the case anyways.

[ThunderTitan]

Just because it has a similar theme does not mean it was copied.

Of course not. He was just "inspired" by it.

[Corribus]

Also let me add a #11 to my "off the top of the head" list that I just recently read - "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. This book won the Pulitzer Prize back in the mid 1980s and should be of immense interest to anyone even remotely interested in 20th century history and/or the physical sciences.

[ThunderTitan]

@C.

Yeah, that sounds interesting....

[Corribus]

@C.

Yeah, that sounds interesting....

Right - God forbid you should learn something.

[ThunderTitan]

Right - God forbid you should learn something.

That's what the discovery chanels are for. Pretty moving picture.

[DaemianLucifer]

Also let me add a #11 to my "off the top of the head" list that I just recently read - "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. This book won the Pulitzer Prize back in the mid 1980s and should be of immense interest to anyone even remotely interested in 20th century history and/or the physical sciences.

Ive learned most of that in school(except for the exact history),so no need to read a book just on that subject.

I dont get why do people think A bombs are so special?They are just as complicated as regular bombs,except they use a different fuel.Sure,an ICBM is complicated,but it doesnt have to have a nuclear warhead.It can also have conventional explosives and still be as complicated.

[Corribus]

Ive learned most of that in school(except for the exact history),so no need to read a book just on that subject.

So you learned most of the history of the making of the atomic bomb, except for the exact history?

I dont get why do people think A bombs are so special?They are just as complicated as regular bombs,except they use a different fuel.Sure,an ICBM is complicated,but it doesnt have to have a nuclear warhead.It can also have conventional explosives and still be as complicated.

Seems like you're just the type of person who needs to read this book.

[Derek]

Corribus, that is exactly the type of book that this thread was created for. Relativly obscure, but award-winning(actually saying that sounds strange though...) It's not as though a thread needs to be made saying that "The Grapes of Wrath" is a good book, but a thread detailing other less common books is certainly a good thing.

That DL post made little sense at all.

[Pol]

I dont get why do people think A bombs are so special?They are just as complicated as regular bombs,except they use a different fuel.Sure,an ICBM is complicated,but it doesnt have to have a nuclear warhead.It can also have conventional explosives and still be as complicated.

Seems like you're just the type of person who needs to read this book.

Be a little more suspicious, that he is not completely serious, it's DL, you cannot expect that from him.

[ThunderTitan]

I dont get why do people think A bombs are so special?

Might have something to do with that whole "whipping out a whole city" thing.

Oh, and C., does he mention anything about what's his name (Oppenheimer?) getting the solution in a dream?

[DaemianLucifer]

So you learned most of the history of the making of the atomic bomb, except for the exact history?

Thats not what I said.By most,I meant how radiation works,critical mass for certain elements etc.

Seems like you're just the type of person who needs to read this book.

The simplest A-Bomb consists of two subcritical mass uranium chunks separated,and a simple triger that will fuze them together.Btw,I bolded the key word of my previous post.I somehow think that if I mentioned a stick of dynamit youd tell me to go read something about landmines with delayed triggers.

[theLuckyDragon]

To keep on-topic, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on Paulo Coelho's books.

[DaemianLucifer]

To keep on-topic, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on Paulo Coelho's books.

Ive read just the alchemist,and I liked it and plan to get the rest from a friend of mine as soon as my exam period ends.

[ThunderTitan]

To keep on-topic, I'd like to hear someone else's opinion on Paulo Coelho's books.

Don't make me take out the dictionary on this one. Was that an annoying book.

[theLuckyDragon]

I said books. And I didn't hear any real opinions yet.

[Corribus]

That DL post made little sense at all.

As usual.

Oh, and C., does he mention anything about what's his name (Oppenheimer?) getting the solution in a dream?

I don't recall if that was mentioned or not. The book is quite long (tops 600 pages) and exhaustive in its coverage of the topic. It begins with the dawn of quantum theory and discusses the development of nuclear science (chemistry and physics) for the first third of the book. Then it discusses actually making the first nuclear reactors, how the science of isotopic separation (uranium enrichment) was developed, and the first fission bomb prototypes, up through the first tests and finally the events that led to the decision to drop the bomb. The book finishes with a description of the awful catastrophic effects of the bomb, including a lot of eye-witness accounts, and finally a chapter on the hydrogen bomb. The middle-latter portion of the book is set in the context of World War II, and there is a lot of information about the Nazi bomb project and how secret Allied missions were aimed at crippling it. There's a lot of biographical information about the famous scientists involved, as well.

Even as someone with several years of post-graduate science behind me, I still learned a lot, particularly about the engineering aspect of the bomb's development, yet it would be pretty accessible to the layman.

Oh and DL - the significance of the bomb goes far beyond just "How complciated it is". The hydrogen bomb changed the face of modern warfare, politics, economics and energy. The advancement of science in general was put in high gear as a result of the quest of the bomb and many technologies that you would not realize had anything to do with the bomb, were actually developed in trying to split the atom. It is perhaps this appreciation for the importance of the Manhattan Project - far beyond being a simple killing machine and ending World War II - that was the most valuable thing that I learned from reading this book.

[DaemianLucifer]

Oh and DL - the significance of the bomb goes far beyond just "How complciated it is". The hydrogen bomb changed the face of modern warfare, politics, economics and energy. The advancement of science in general was put in high gear as a result of the quest of the bomb and many technologies that you would not realize had anything to do with the bomb, were actually developed in trying to split the atom. It is perhaps this appreciation for the importance of the Manhattan Project - far beyond being a simple killing machine and ending World War II - that was the most valuable thing that I learned from reading this book.

Well one could also argue that the whole human science comes from trying to kill your fellow man

[Derek]

In regards to science being accesible to layman,

Is Hawking's "A Brief History of the Universe" worth reading? I'm guessing that you've read it Corribus.

[Akul]

I sugest George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" serial. True, it is fat (4 books - about 3300 pages in total and 3 books are planed for future) but it is probably the best fantasy serial. IMO, it is a must-read even if you don't like fantasy.

Other then that, I would recomend Salvatore's Dark Elf but you have probably read it.