What book(s) are you reading right now and recommend for others?
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I completed the Wheel of Time last year and liked the Sanderson style of the latter books and am now on book 3 of Stormlight Archive and love it so far. It took me a good half the first book to "get it" or "get into it" rather, but now I see the vision and am enjoying it all. Planning on the other Cosmere series and books after.
Sanderson is definitely one of the better sci-fi/fantasy writers I've read.
Wheel of Time is on my to do list, I've heard a lot about it both being great and hard to get into to begin with and so I keep putting it off. I will get around to it at some point.
Enjoy your journey into Sanderson, I'm a little jealous I can't go on those journeys again for the first time!
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Project Hail Mary
Andy wier returns to the roots of The Martian. Also, movie is coming next spring about it.Dark Matter
Some deep physics stuff occurs, but the story can be followed with no knowledge of super position. Also released as a mini series on some streaming channel -
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I'm reading "don't let him in" by Lisa Jewel, it's great so far, very intriguing (I also recommend "none of this is true" by the same author)
Last week I read "the road to tender hearts" by Annie Harnett and it was very moving. It touches very hard topics with a splash of humor to make it easier to digest
I also recommend anything by TJ Klune. His books are very wholesome, sometimes I just want an easy reading where everything is solved with hugs and love
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Ok, so I have no shortages of critiscism when it comes to the book. I do agree that they seem to have a foolishly optimistic assumption that the only (or I guess just the principal) hurdle in the way of housing development is regulation. I'm certain corporate greed does play a MAJOR role in this. However, going over what you've linked here, I have a couple issues. Most notably, the second point there. It really seems odd to essentially say that we shouldn't be considering housing reform because we need healthcare reform. Two issues can and do exist, and both issues need to be addressed. The authors focus on one of them. That doesn't mean they don't care about the other. As for Kline and Thompson's call for deregulation, it's something that rubs me the wrong way initially, but they do a pretty good job demonstrating the way that regulation can be used to slow and even fully prevent development, and how it leads to developers only building luxury housing because the costs to develop are too high. And while this make me think somethng like, "boohoo the rich guy will need to wait a little longer to get a return" we can't ignore that under our current system, profits are the prime motivator. I'm on my phone right now, so I feel I can't really dive too deep into your question, but my main point would be that I do agree with some of the critisicm and I don't think they fully address some pretty big concerns the reader may have with what they're saying.
I did keep notes on quotes that I felt were important in the book, and then went through and wrote out why I felt they were. A lot of them touch on these topics. If you're interested, I can share it. Though please keep in mind, I haven't refined my notes as I wasn't really expecting to share them.
If you're down, absolutely.
What I'm getting so far (from the reviews and your comment) is that deregulation could incentivize more housing construction, but there's a massive asterisk that Klein and Thompson are avoiding.
My opinion so far is they either earnestly believe in the neoliberal promise that "if you just get out of the way, the free market can solve anything" or (more cynically) they're seeding the terrain edify buzzwords for a Democratic comeback campaign.
Either way, you've convinced me to put it on my to-read list.
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Wheel of Time is on my to do list, I've heard a lot about it both being great and hard to get into to begin with and so I keep putting it off. I will get around to it at some point.
Enjoy your journey into Sanderson, I'm a little jealous I can't go on those journeys again for the first time!
If it helps, read the first one and if you don't like it, you don't have to finish it or the series. It stands alone decently well. I know that's obvious, but I often don't do things because I feel like starting something mean I have to finish it. Books, games, movies, etc
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The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. It's set in a fantasy medieval Europe. Unfortunately, its not long out and is the first of a series, so I'll have to wait for the rest.
I read the First Law series. And after that devastating ending, I can never go back to reading his books. Do all of his books end like that?
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If you're down, absolutely.
What I'm getting so far (from the reviews and your comment) is that deregulation could incentivize more housing construction, but there's a massive asterisk that Klein and Thompson are avoiding.
My opinion so far is they either earnestly believe in the neoliberal promise that "if you just get out of the way, the free market can solve anything" or (more cynically) they're seeding the terrain edify buzzwords for a Democratic comeback campaign.
Either way, you've convinced me to put it on my to-read list.
Yeah, I'll send you a google docs link. I mean, they provide a lot of great examples about how regulation is halting progress on projects that pretty much everyone, regardless of political ideology, can agree are good. So, they have a point. But I feel like their conclusion is somewhat lacking in substance. This is not to say it's not a great read. It's just something that would benefit further analysis. Definitely let me know when you've finished reading it, if you wanna discuss it more. I don't really know anyone who's interested in this topic, so it's nice to get a chance to discuss it.
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I read the First Law series. And after that devastating ending, I can never go back to reading his books. Do all of his books end like that?
I haven't finished this one yet, do we'll see.
I'm guessing you mean the first trilogy (apologies if I'm mistaken), as the First Law universe continues for 6 more books after that (plus a collection of short stories). After the Last Argument of Kings, there are 3 "stand alone" novels, which are the strongest, in my opinion, and then a second trilogy, which is excellent.
I believe there are more books planned for that universe, but The Devils is separate. The others I haven't read as they're Young Adult, so they probably have cheerier endings.
Were you to read on, you'd probably find some joy for characters you like, but I think unhappy endings outweigh the happy ones. Of course, I could be mistaken and you've read all 9, because the ending of the last can definitely be described as devastating too!
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If it helps, read the first one and if you don't like it, you don't have to finish it or the series. It stands alone decently well. I know that's obvious, but I often don't do things because I feel like starting something mean I have to finish it. Books, games, movies, etc
Haha I appreciate the advice and I used to be the same feeling I had to finish things I started but as I have got older I do drop games and books etc if I am really not enjoying them and it has made things a lot more enjoyable.
It is more because I am currently into the Deathlands series of books. It is currently 155 books long and I'm at 89, whilst I do have a break from it here and there to listen to other books I don't want to start another series of books just now
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I haven't finished this one yet, do we'll see.
I'm guessing you mean the first trilogy (apologies if I'm mistaken), as the First Law universe continues for 6 more books after that (plus a collection of short stories). After the Last Argument of Kings, there are 3 "stand alone" novels, which are the strongest, in my opinion, and then a second trilogy, which is excellent.
I believe there are more books planned for that universe, but The Devils is separate. The others I haven't read as they're Young Adult, so they probably have cheerier endings.
Were you to read on, you'd probably find some joy for characters you like, but I think unhappy endings outweigh the happy ones. Of course, I could be mistaken and you've read all 9, because the ending of the last can definitely be described as devastating too!
Nope, I didn't know there were more books in the first law universe. I only read the first trilogy.
