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What is the most convoluted, opaque, impenetrable book you ever read?
Blind Eye Jones
Posted on 03/09/2007 11:22:35 PM PST by Blind Eye Jones
What is the most convoluted, opaque, impenetrable book you ever read?
TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: books; zenandtheartofmotorc
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To: reg45
After noting that many of these books were (and still are) required reading in humanities classes in college, I am overjoyed that I majored in chemistry - PChem seems simple in comparison. Riveting and breathtaking, even!
241
posted on
03/10/2007 6:59:01 AM PST
by
Gorzaloon
(Global Warming: A New Kind Of Scientology for the Rest Of Us.)
To: fnord
I like all of Neal Stephenson, although the Baroque Cycle was a little too long... especially like Cryptonomicon, Diamond Age (title?), Snowcrash.
242
posted on
03/10/2007 7:01:31 AM PST
by
keeper53
( "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot)
To: Gorzaloon
No, no, no... In King James I's time, that referred to what we term the "heart".
243
posted on
03/10/2007 7:02:06 AM PST
by
6323cd
("It is prohibited to make use of such emotional signs in a cellphone!")
To: AnotherUnixGeek
I just started that book and I was hoping it would get better. I guess not!
To: keeper53
It's been about 15 years since I last had a go at it... maybe I should try it again...
245
posted on
03/10/2007 7:03:27 AM PST
by
6323cd
("It is prohibited to make use of such emotional signs in a cellphone!")
To: 6323cd
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. It's heartbreaking, because 18th-Century England is one of my favorite periods of history, and I wanted so much to enjoy the book, but I simply can't make heads or tails of it. I've tried reading it about a dozen times, but can't get past Chapter 2. Shame on you. C.S. Lewis called it a "gossipy, formless book which can be read anywhere" (i.e. open it to any random page and start reading) and used to read it while eating meals.
Cheers!
246
posted on
03/10/2007 7:04:12 AM PST
by
grey_whiskers
(The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
To: ReignOfError
It took a while to get through The Brothers Karamazov but it was worth it. It's easily one the best books I've ever read, if not the best.
247
posted on
03/10/2007 7:07:48 AM PST
by
SoDak
To: 6323cd
It did seem interesting as far as being ground-breaking (blank pages, pictures, puzzles, etc.).
Let me know how it goes!
;)
248
posted on
03/10/2007 7:08:23 AM PST
by
keeper53
( "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot)
To: SoDak
It took a while to get through The Brothers Karamazov but it was worth it. It's easily one the best books I've ever read, if not the best.
Amen to that!
249
posted on
03/10/2007 7:09:42 AM PST
by
keeper53
( "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot)
To: fnord
Pirsig's Pursuit of Quality is an expansion on my father's admonition to "never force things".
While my father used the phrase in the mechanical/engineering context, it's essence can be found on many levels.
Ah yes - Science Fiction
I would argue, as I often do, that Neuromancer is more prophesy than SF.
Remember that Gibson wrote this work in 1984.
I am not sure what your interests were in that time frame but I had no vision of surfing the Internet.
Gibson coined the term Cyberspace, and foretold a world that you and I inhabit this morning.
Prophesy.
I recommend this work to everyone who spends any time out on this Matrix that links us all.
Regards
To: Blind Eye Jones
Anything--and I do mean anything--by Noam Chomsky.
251
posted on
03/10/2007 7:12:18 AM PST
by
giotto
To: StarfireIV
My favorite Nietzsche quote:
"One must have chaos in one's life
in order to give birth to a dancing star"
252
posted on
03/10/2007 7:15:35 AM PST
by
TET1968
(SI MINOR PLUS EST ERGO NIHIL SUNT OMNIA)
To: Blind Eye Jones
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Totally incomprehensible.
To: Blind Eye Jones
This reminds me of some of the readings I had to do for my Philosophy requirement in college:
Kierkegard's Fear and Trembling comes to mind. We had to read 1 chapter and I had to totally rely on my class notes as the book might as well have been written in Greek.
To: Blind Eye Jones
As a child - "Dune." It took me 5 attempts to get over the "hump" and get interested in the story.
As an adult - "Atlas Shrugged." I've already tried 10 times, and can't get interested enough to get past the first chapter.
255
posted on
03/10/2007 7:20:20 AM PST
by
Washi
(Support the country you live in, or go live in the country you support.)
To: saganite
I gave Kant's Critique of Pure Reason a shot. It was totally impenetrable. The word A Priori comes to mind when you mentioned Kant's Crituqe of Pure Reason.
While reading through many posts, some people have also listed books that they just found really boring. So I'll add one here too.
"Babbit," by Sinclair Lewis. Mind-numbingly boring!
Mark
257
posted on
03/10/2007 7:27:01 AM PST
by
MarkL
(When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
To: ARE SOLE
There was a Motorola book, kind of a users guide, to a small microcontroller that had a DSP embedded. Anyway the book started out normally but as it went on it got more and more unreadable, not due to technical stuff but just incomprehensible english until at the end it was almost useless. It was like the guy was getting drunk as he wrote it. I leared later that the guy who started it was moved off the project and someone else completed the book (Motorola is like that). The guy who finished it must have been a hurry to move on to something else or perhaps he botched it all up as a way to cover up his technical incompetence.
258
posted on
03/10/2007 7:27:08 AM PST
by
bkepley
To: Blind Eye Jones
What is the most convoluted, opaque, impenetrable book you ever read?
The Tibetan or Egyptian Book of the Dead?
259
posted on
03/10/2007 7:31:08 AM PST
by
aruanan
To: Allegra
Hi, Allegra:
I LOVE Tom Wolfe!
I still have my copy of "Radical Chic And Mau-Mauing The Flak Catchers" from High School. I crack it open every year or so, just to remind me that there is no bottom to the Left's slimy skeeviness.
"The Tangerine Metal Flake Streamlined Baby" is very good too, but I think his best work is "The Right Stuff".
Jack.
260
posted on
03/10/2007 7:36:41 AM PST
by
Jack Deth
(Knight Errant and Resident FReeper Kitty Poem /Haiku Guy)
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