What are you reading?

[Gillianren]

Definitely not your typical Stephen King novel, although I'd say that about a third of Stephen King novels. Also, this is a good choice for those who like King's writing but don't like anything supernatural.

I maintain a list of those, personally. Apparently, he had some woman in a supermarket once argue with him about whether or not he'd written (I think) The Green Mile, which is supernatural but in a positive sort of way. It might've been Shawshank Redemption, which I read long before the movie came out. She didn't think he'd written anything not involving demons and haunted cars.

[AndreasJ]

I've finished Cugel's Saga and begun Rhialto the Marvellous.

I've also read parts of the Dying Earth Role-Playing Game. Dunno if I'll ever actually play it, but it's an interesting design.

[AndreasJ]

I've finished Cugel's Saga and begun Rhialto the Marvellous.

Finished the later (it's a short book of just 240pp). Of the three component short stories, the first ("The Murthe") was a definite disappointment, the second ("Fader's Waft") so-and-so, the third ("Morreion") quite good.

("Morreion" was written before the other two - first published in a SAGA anthology in 1973, before even the publication, and presumably writing, of Cugel's Saga -, reinforcing the pattern that Vance's vision for the setting evolved somewhat away from my tastes over time.)

[Gillianren]

Someone wrote in my copy of Gaudy Night! The pages with the reveal has been marked all over by someone trying to keep track of the clues, at least I assume that's what they were doing. This is clearly not the copy I am accustomed to reading, and that's even leaving out that the Greek isn't printed correctly. I'm very upset about this and must now acquire a new copy.

Having finished that, and grumbled quite a lot at Graham, who wasn't listening, I have moved on to Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold. When I read her books in rapid succession a while ago, it was on a different shelf and I couldn't find it.

[AndreasJ]

Having finished that, and grumbled quite a lot at Graham, who wasn't listening, I have moved on to Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold. When I read her books in rapid succession a while ago, it was on a different shelf and I couldn't find it.

One concludes your collection is larger than mine.

LibraryThing tells me I currently own 315 books. (My bookshelves, who do not deign to have an url, tells me that's about ten too many.) How about the rest of the assembled gentlefolk?

[Gillianren]

My database has 1492 items in it. Probably a dozen or better are Graham's (his audio books don't go into the system, though), and a few are listed as "pamphlet," which generally means sheet music. Still, just counting my actual books, we're looking at over 1400.

[CJSF]

I never thought about that. Needing a database or catalog to keep track of one's own books. I've never had the space for more than a couple of book cases worth, and half of them are my wife's. Every few years I donate books I haven't read in a long while to a library or other charity. But it's easy to keep track of a few dozen books by looking at the shelves... If I had 1400 I'd be lost without a database, likely.

CJSF

[Gillianren]

I have one for my DVDs, too. I have friends who want me to put it online--they think it'll make gift-giving easier, and probably it would. However, I like my system and don't know if the information I put in it would all be available on the programs people keep suggesting. (For example, notations that they're signed or whatnot.)

[AndreasJ]

I have one for my DVDs, too. I have friends who want me to put it online--they think it'll make gift-giving easier, and probably it would. However, I like my system and don't know if the information I put in it would all be available on the programs people keep suggesting. (For example, notations that they're signed or whatnot.)

FWIW, LibraryThing's tagging system would easily handle such notations.

Oh, and because this thread got me thinking of my collection, I realized I had a few more wargaming books that hadn't been entered yet. The count now stands at 319.

Now reading John C. McLoughlin's Archosauria; A New Look at the Old Dinosaur. It's for historical interest and amusement only - much of the contents are heterodox or outdated or both, and the rest is mostly stuff I already knew, bu McLoughlin is a very funny writer, and some of the heterodoxies are hilarious.

[Bolasanibk]

I have close to 500 books (Do comics count? I have all the asterix comics and they do cost as much as a paperback).
Not counting Computer engineering books left over from college or accounting books from my dad.

I dont use a database to track them as of now, but I am seriously thinking of setting up one.

My DVD collection only runs into a few 10s at this time so, does not seem like much of a problem.

[Spoons]

I really need to sort out my own database for all my books, DVDs and CDs, as I'm forever picking up a book and getting sidetracked by other books part way through, or having DCDs & CDs borrowed (whether they ask or not) and not returned by friends.

I've been keeping a copy of Phil's book, Death From The Skies in the car lately, for times when I arrive somewhere and need to wait for 10 minutes or so - it's a good book for biting off a chunk here or there. I started the first chapter of that around the start of the year, I think, but got distracted by a couple of biographies.

[AndreasJ]

(Do comics count? I have all the asterix comics and they do cost as much as a paperback).

FWIW, they're not included in my count.

[AndreasJ]

Picked up Hitchens's God is not Great at the library today. This would be one of those book whose theses we better do not discuss. Instead, I'll mention that at the library cafeteria, I was briefly questioned by a police officer searching for suspect who, judging by the photographs he showed me, truly does look remarkably like myself.

[Gillianren]

FWIW, they're not included in my count.

Nor mine; our collection would be much larger if they were. (Graham has hundreds.) Now, graphic novels, yes. Collections. But individual comics? No.

[Buttercup]

Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun: The Odyssey of an Artist in an Age of Revolution by Gita May [2005]. Beautiful book beautifully written; I'm enjoying it.

Rose Bertin: The Creator of Fashion at the Court of Marie-Antoinette, Emile Langlade [1913]. Copy of a very rare book (existing volumes start at $300.00) I obtained via Barnes & Noble robotic scan. A bit difficult to read (translation and formatting issues), but interesting.

[Bolasanibk]

Nor mine; our collection would be much larger if they were. (Graham has hundreds.) Now, graphic novels, yes. Collections. But individual comics? No.

I guess then my count would be closer to 400 than 500.

Just finished reading Wodehouse's 'The Adventures of Sally'. After reading a series of serious books for the past couple of months, I really felt the need for some light stuff. I will be starting off on John Le Carre next.

[grant hutchison]

I've now finish The Case For God. A distinctly more calm and nuanced commentary on religious thought than that offered by Hitchens and his fellow New Atheist writers, I think. It's of course impossible to tell how many BAUTers might be remotely interested in such a thing, but I recommend it anyway.
On now to Philip Jenkins's Jesus Wars, a description of the political and religious conflict surrounding the great Christological debates of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries. Again, I haven't a clue how many here might be interested, and there's very little that could safely be discussed on BAUT. But it's a fascinating period of history, during which thousands of people lost their lives over the difference between "homoousian" and "homoiousian", among other vexed issues.

Grant Hutchison

[Gillianren]

Which, arguably, is the origin of an iota's difference being a big deal.

[grant hutchison]

Which, arguably, is the origin of an iota's difference being a big deal.

I don't think I've heard that one.
An iota has always been a very small difference down my way. (In a pleasing loop of references, in that form it derives from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as reported in Matthew's gospel.)

Grant Hutchison

[Gillianren]

"Not an iota" pops up as a small difference, but it's a play on the fact that it was a small difference which led to a big one.

[SkepticJ]

The Ultimate Spy Book - H. Keith Melton

I've had the book for over a decade, just doing a bit of re-reading in it.

[grant hutchison]

"Not an iota" pops up as a small difference, but it's a play on the fact that it was a small difference which led to a big one.

But whoever wrote Matthew's gospel used "not an iota" (= "not a jot") in the sense of "not even a tiny difference" in the latter half of the first century CE, long before there were homoousians and homoiousians around to kill each other.
That seems to suggest that the "big difference" interpretation is a later reparsing of the original.

Grant Hutchison

[clop]

But whoever wrote Matthew's gospel used "not an iota" (= "not a jot") in the sense of "not even a tiny difference" in the latter half of the first century CE, long before there were homoousians and homoiousians around to kill each other.
That seems to suggest that the "big difference" interpretation is a later reparsing of the original.

Grant Hutchison

Off topic I know, but when did a "quantum leap" become a big leap when a quantum is actually the smallest possible measurement of something?

clop

[Spoons]

Yes, that one annoys me too. It says here that it originally meant a sudden change, but evolved when it started being used by others than physicists (who I suppose didn't understand the origin and significance of 'quantum') to mean a significant or important change, which could be presumed to be a large change. And here we are now, people using the phrase in a completely counter-intuitive way.

[Paul Beardsley]

Off topic I know, but when did a "quantum leap" become a big leap when a quantum is actually the smallest possible measurement of something?

clop

I don't know, but it must go back at least to the time when Clive Sinclair was advertising his QL computer. I'm pretty sure the misconception was rife before then, but the image of him leaping over a giant computer in the park must have done a lot to reinforce it.

[Spoons]

As per the link I provided,

This term originated as quantum jump in the mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

So, around the 50's or 60's I guess.

[grant hutchison]

Off topic I know, but when did a "quantum leap" become a big leap when a quantum is actually the smallest possible measurement of something?

Hmmmm: I'm afraid that one has always seemed like an entirely reasonable metaphor to me. The reference is to the the apparent discontinuity that attends both a quantum transition and a large social or technological change. In neither case (at the limit of resolution used by the speaker) is there a smoothly varying intermediate state.
The retrospective fuss about quanta being (generally) small looks an awful lot as if it was generated by people who a) missed the point of the metaphor, and b) wanted us to know that they knew a bit of physics.

Grant Hutchison

[clop]

Hmmmm: I'm afraid that one has always seemed like an entirely reasonable metaphor to me. The reference is to the the apparent discontinuity that attends both a quantum transition and a large social or technological change. In neither case (at the limit of resolution used by the speaker) is there a smoothly varying intermediate state.
The retrospective fuss about quanta being (generally) small looks an awful lot as if it was generated by people who a) missed the point of the metaphor, and b) wanted us to know that they knew a bit of physics.

Grant Hutchison

Grant you crack me up.

But really, when I was first taught about quanta I was taught that a quantum is the smallest amount of energy that can be transferred from one atom to another in a crystal lattice.

I'm not trying to be clever.

clop

PS Are you confusing a quantum with a Heaviside step function?

[grant hutchison]

Grant you crack me up.

I'm pleased to hear it.

But really, when I was first taught about quanta I was taught that a quantum is the smallest amount of energy that can be transferred from one atom to another in a crystal lattice.

Sure. And the fact that there is a "smallest amount" (rather than a continuous approach to zero) leads directly to the fact that atomic energy is constrained to jump in a discontinuous way: a "quantum jump". There is no smaller amount of energy available to make smooth transitions. The discontinuity is what's important for the metaphor.

I'm not trying to be clever.

I know. My comments about people trying to be clever were carefully couched in the past tense, to exclude present company. The story about the phrase "quantum jump" allegedly not making sense for large changes has been around for decades. I think the person who originated that idea probably didn't have much of a handle on either quantum mechanics or metaphor.
Here's an example of what I'm trying to say. I was reading about the Zulu Wars the other day, and I came across a passage in which the author described the Zulus as being "caught on the back foot" and then overwhelmed by a particular manoeuvre from their enemies. One could say that this is a senseless metaphor, because the back foot is where one places one's weight when prepared to cast a spear; so it would be a good situation for the Zulus, not a bad one. Instead, we have to explore which part of the cricketing expression "caught on the back foot" is actually being applied metaphorically. The analogy is in fact between a fast high ball pushing the batsman backwards into a quick defensive position, and an enemy rapidly pressing home a surprise attack. The metaphor makes sense if you make the right connection, and doesn't if you don't. Likewise, one can only see "quantum jump" as an erroneous metaphor if one insists on interpreting it as a small change, rather than a discontinuous change.

PS Are you confusing a quantum with a Heaviside step function?

That would be a remarkable level of confusion, certainly.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

As per the link I provided,

So, around the 50's or 60's I guess.

The first metaphorical usage of "quantum jump" attested by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1955. (The first non-metaphorical usage listed is from 1927.)

Grant Hutchison