Science fiction. Twelve Virtues of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. By Eliezer Yudkowsky The first virtue is curiosity. A burning itch to know is higher than a solemn vow to pursue truth. To feel the burning itch of curiosity requires both that you be ignorant, and that you desire to relinquish your ignorance. If in your heart you believe you already know, or if in your heart you do not wish to know, then your questioning will be purposeless and your skills without direction. Curiosity seeks to annihilate itself; there is no curiosity that does not want an answer. The second virtue is relinquishment. The third virtue is lightness. The fourth virtue is evenness. The fifth virtue is argument. The sixth virtue is empiricism. The seventh virtue is simplicity. The eighth virtue is humility. The ninth virtue is perfectionism. The tenth virtue is precision. The eleventh virtue is scholarship. Before these eleven virtues is a virtue which is nameless. Miyamoto Musashi wrote, in The Book of Five Rings: How can you improve your conception of rationality?
Squashed Philosophers Abridged Editions - HOME. Popular Science - A Nerd’s Guide to Reading. Things. Free Science Fiction Classics on the Web: Huxley, Orwell, Asimov, Gaiman & Beyond. Today we're bringing you a roundup of some of the great Science Fiction, Fantasy and Dystopian classics available on the web. And what better way to get started than with Aldous Huxley reading a dramatized recording of his 1932 novel, Brave New World. The reading aired on the CBS Radio Workshop in 1956. You can listen to Part 1 here and Part 2 here. (FYI: You can download Huxley's original work -- as opposed to the dramatized version -- in audio by signing up for a Free Trial with Audible.com, and that applies to other books mentioned here as well.) Little known fact. In 1910, J. Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates -- they both pay homage to H.P. Philip K.
eTexts (find download instructions here) Audio “Beyond Lies the Wub” – Free MP3“Beyond the Door” – Free MP3“Second Variety” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online“The Defenders” - Free MP3“The Hanging Stranger” – Free MP3“The Variable Man” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online“Tony and the Beetles” – MP3 Part 1 – MP3 Part II Audio & Video. Bendib Cartoon - Independent, uncensored, free-speech Political Cartoons. Philosophy for Beginners - Download free content from Oxford University. Dokkōdō. The "Dokkōdō" [ (Japanese: 独行道?) ; "The Path of Aloneness", "The Way to Go Forth Alone", or "The Way of Walking Alone"] is a short work written by Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵) a week before he died in 1645.
It consists of either nineteen or twenty-one precepts; precepts 4 and 20 are omitted from the former version. "Dokkodo" was largely composed on the occasion of Musashi giving away his possessions in preparation for death, and was dedicated to his favorite disciple, Terao Magonojō (to whom the earlier Go rin no sho [The Book of Five Rings] had also been dedicated), who took them to heart. "Dokkōdō" expresses a stringent, honest, and ascetic view of life. Precepts[edit] References[edit] The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit) Recently, someone asked Reddit for a list of the best science fiction books of all time. Being a fan of sci-fi, and wanting to expand my own reading list, I thought it would be helpful to tally the results and preserve them here for future reference. I've also included selected quotes from the comments, as well as my own notes on the books I've already read. PS: All book images in this post are copyright Amazon, and were retrieved using my Big Book Search Engine.
So, without further ado, here are the Greatest Sci-Fi Books of All Time, ordered by upvote count: Dune Frank Herbert - 1965 "There's a reason it's the global top selling science fiction book of all time. " - NibblyPig If you have a chance, track down the excellent full cast audiobook (unabridged!) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams - 1979 "I really love the cool combination of humor, philosophy, and sheer nuttiness of the entire series. " - Scarbrow Ender's Game Orson Scott Card - 1985 Foundation Trilogy Isaac Asimov - 1942. Sci-Fi Lists - Top 100 Sci-Fi Books. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Chapter One A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY. The enormous room on the ground floor faced towards the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory.
Wintriness responded to wintriness. "And this," said the Director opening the door, "is the Fertilizing Room. " Bent over their instruments, three hundred Fertilizers were plunged, as the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning entered the room, in the scarcely breathing silence, the absent-minded, soliloquizing hum or whistle, of absorbed concentration.
Meanwhile, it was a privilege. Responds by budding. Mr. 30 Very Funny Books--Seriously. By Gina Barreca, Ph.D. It's a dreary day, so I thought I'd indulge myself and come up with a list of my favorite comedies. A caveat, however: this is not a fancy English-professor-y list of the finest, most exquisitely crafted, most erudite or intellectually sophisticated works on paper in the language. This is a list of the books that make me laugh until my mascara starts to run. These are books to read over your first cup of coffee or just before you go to sleep . Remember: a day you've laughed is day you haven't wasted--even if you didn't get out of bed. Some days you need a jump-start to get to the funny parts of life. You've probably heard of most of these titles, and maybe you've already read several of them. You ready? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
And of course this is just the beginning. Awesome Books to Replace Your Favorite Cancelled TV Shows. ZOMG YES on Resnick! How did I not think to suggest those myself?! There's also a sequel to Santiago called, "Return of Santiago". And the Soothsayer trilogy (Soothsayer, Oracle, Prophet). Couldn't recommend a book, but if you fancy a TV show in the mould of B7, you can't get better than Farscape...
Slight tangent, but why in this era of utterly pointless remakes, can we not have a B7 remake? Stop remaking great films that just happened to be subtitled, stop remaking excellent movies with perfectly adequate effects from 20 years back. I have a show for you, it was edgy, a bit grim but still hugely popular but it's budget of..say, 50 quid an episode was a real problem.. Agreed on Farscape, it's the closest thing available. The problem with it specifically, is that as far as genre programming on the BBC, if it's not Saturday teatime fare like Dr Who or Being Human, or relatively cheap to make adult urban supernatural shows like Being Human or The Fades, nobody seems to be interested.
The Cynic's Sanctuary. Summer School for Geeks: 11 New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books | Underwire. If you're planning on hanging out with any cool geeks this summer, you definitely won't want to admit that all you've read lately is Fifty Shades of Grey. And now that Game of Thrones is an HBO show, no one's going to be impressed that you've heard of A Song of Ice and Fire. So here's a list of some of this summer's most buzz-worthy geek science fiction and fantasy books. Drop a few of these into casual conversation, and it'll establish beyond any doubt that you're a true geek who's up on the latest trends. Above:Redshirts By John Scalzi Megapopular writer John Scalzi's Whatever blog is often described as one of the few websites with a readable comments section, thanks to his strict policy of culling offensive posts — a process he refers to as "wielding the Mallet of Loving Correction.
" An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1925; ed. by Mahadev Desai, 1940. 100 Most Influential Books Since the War (TLS) Who wrote this list? See the heading above and the credit below to find out who wrote this list. If you don't like the selections in this list or the arrangement, take it up with the author(s).
Why isn't my favorite author listed here? This list may not include your favorite author, but he or she may be on other Great Books lists. See the Great Books FAQ for more about the Great Books and these lists of them. Books of the 1940s Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex Marc Bloch: The Historian's Craft Fernand Braudel: The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II James Burnham: The Managerial Revolution Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus: The Outsider R. Books of the 1950s Books of the 1960s Hannah Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Daniel Bell: The End of Ideology Isaiah Berlin: Four Essays on Liberty Albert Camus: Notebooks 1935-1951 Elias Canetti: Crowds and Power Robert Dahl: Who Governs? Books of the 1970s. Bible Knowledge Accelerator Free Bible History Software About The Ancient Biblical World.