Recently finished "The Road"by Cormac McCarthy. I thought it was a pretty good book (I love the post-apocalypse settings for books/games/movies), but I didn't think it was great by any stretch. Not as good as all the "hype" I've heard for it. The "feel" of how desperate and bleak the world is, is passed on to the reader very well.
I've read through "Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?" by Max Brallier about a half dozen times or so now. It's pretty damn good. It's a choose your own adventure type of book. I don't necessarily like how sometimes you choose to do something and it includes having the character choose to do 10 other things you had no control over (or wouldn't have foreseen happening based on the choice you were making before). But it's entertaining none the less.
I finished the "De-Textbook" by writers at Cracked.com and I thought it was an awesome book (mainly for "muricans" since a lot of is has to do with our history and what we were taught that was flat out lies or propaganda, and also things that were left out of our history). But it has a lot of good information about people in general. The only (very minor) criticism I had about the book was one section about the myth of curing a hangover by popping aspirin before you start drinking. I'd never heard that before. I have heard (and believe) that it helps to pop some ibuprofen before you pass out at night (after a long night of drinking) along with a large glass of water. I know the water and helping fight dehydration is the main thing, but I would have liked to know if taking some ibuprofen before bed as well helped at all.
Aspirin is a blood thinner. I'm no biochemist, but if I had to guess, I'd say it may make you feel better (in the same way alcohol makes you feel warmer while cooling you down) by improving circulation. Any NSAID, such as ibuprofen, shouldn't be taken with alcohol. There's almost no chance that it will be lethal, but it might exacerbate things like liver damage or pancreatitis.
ON BOOKS
I recently read
Empire in Black and Gold, due to a recommendation from another player. The writing didn't capture me, though I did read it immediately after reading a Michael Chabon book, and that's like drinking a regular American lager after downing a bottle of La Fin du Monde. I did find it interesting that there were several parallels between the narrative and the beginning of the World Wars, as well as the Mongol Empire. A key draw for many, I assume, is the novelty of
insect based super-powers and magic combined with an industrial world that still uses some medieval methods of warfare. The writing did get better though, and for the guy who recommended it to me, I'll continue to give the series a chance.
Talent is Overrated delves into defining what 'deliberate practice' is, a concept popularized by Malcolm Gladwell's
Outliers. It honestly has some amazing methods in learning just about any skill or field of knowledge, and I'm eager to see if these methods work.
