#bookrecs

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "The Elric Saga, Part 1" (1972 - 1977) by Michael Moorcock Age Range: 16 to adult Genre: Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Dark Fantasy Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champions" books are foundational to the modern field of fantasy. They brought the dark antihero to the genre, but that's not all they did; Moorcock also introduced the concepts of Law, Chaos, and the Balance to fantasy (the first two of which were adopted by Dungeons & Dragons), as well as the multiverse and arguably the concept of dark fantasy itself! The Eternal Champion is a figure fated to be reborn or reincarnated throughout time and space. Most often a Champion of the Balance between Law and Chaos, he/she sometimes serves Law or Chaos instead. The Champion is often cursed to a terrible fate. Accompanied by incarnations of the Companion to Champions and by a true love, the Champion very often bears certain objects of cosmic power–the most famous of which is Stormbringer, the Black Blade. And the most famous incarnation of the Eternal Champion is Elric, Prince of Melniboné. An eldritch albino of an elf-like race, he's fatally weakened by his albinism; only through dark sorcery is he able to survive, eventually relying on the soul-stealing power of the demonic runeblade Stormbringer. [IT IS THE colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby. The crimson eyes are troubled and sometimes one hand will rise to finger the light helm which sits upon the white locks: a helm made from some dark, greenish alloy and exquisitely moulded into the likeness of a dragon about to take wing. And on the hand which absently caresses the crown there is a ring in which is set a single rare Actorios stone whose core sometimes shifts sluggishly and reshapes itself, as if it were sentient smoke and as restless in its jewelled prison as the young albino on his Ruby Throne. He looks down the long flight of quartz steps to where his court disports itself, dancing with such delicacy and whispering grace that it might be a court of ghosts. Mentally he debates moral issues and in itself this activity divides him from the great majority of his subjects, for these people are not human. These are the people of Melniboné, the Dragon Isle, which ruled the world for ten thousand years and has ceased to rule it for less than five hundred years. And they are cruel and clever and to them ‘morality’ means little more than a proper respect for the traditions of a hundred centuries.] Bands (usually heavy metal ones) have done songs about Elric, Stormbringer, and other aspects of the Champion. Some even named themselves after them. There are tabletop roleplaying systems based on various incarnations of the Champion. There's a lot of art that's been based on them, too. The cultural impact of the Eternal Champion is massive. The Elric series is made up of six books (a seventh was later published), each of which is relatively slim. The first three novels are "Elric of Melniboné" (1972), "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate" (1977), and "The Weird of the White Wolf" (1977); those three are freely available to borrow on the Internet Archive as a single volume titled "The Elric Saga, Part 1". https://archive.org/details/elricsaga0000mich_k9z1 Rather than tease things out, I'll also recommend the rest of the series. It consists of "The Sleeping Sorceress" (1971) also published as "The Vanishing Tower", "The Bane of the Black Sword", and "Stormbringer". They've been bundled as a single book, "The Elric Saga, Part 2" on the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/elricsagapart20000mich Moorcock wrote other stories about Elric, and Elric makes cameo appearances (so to speak) in other Eternal Champion series as well. And if you enjoy the Elric series, there are •dozens• more books in the Eternal Champion series. There are at least 19 whole SERIES included in it. An incarnation of the Champion was even included in the Doctor Who universe! And here's a freebie: Michael Moorcock wrote the lyrics to a song about Elric and Stormbringer called "Black Blade". It was performed by Blue Öyster Cult. Here's a link. https://youtu.be/_p1yaNC1mNg Happy reading (and listening)! 🤓📖 Here's a complete spreadsheet of all the books I've recommended on Mastodon to date (along with links to each post): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzubtaPojvprNwZCeR6N4xzCpZzMeb4xrrEHPtk6Bvx3RGj1Bxdg2KWY0CcjHjxUfMTGTF1eYpyoFn/pubhtml #Books #Bookstodon #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #DarkFantasy #Classic #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #DailyBookRecs #QuasitBookRecs

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "Write If You Get Work (and Hang By Your Thumbs): The Best of Bob & Ray" (1975) by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding Age Range: 11 to adult Genre: Humor, Radio When I was a kid I looked forward to being sick. Why? Because my mother would set up a vaporizer, bring me tea and toast, and bring the kitchen radio up into my room. And I'd listen to WOR NY all day. It was incredible. So many wonderful shows. Jean Shepherd. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, hosted by E.G. Marshall. The Coffee Express. And best of all, Bob & Ray. If you don't know Bob and Ray...well, this is your chance. They were two quirky guys from the Boston area who broadcast (separately) from WHDH radio. They started visiting each other on the air during each other's shows, and discovered that they shared the same unique type of humor. Their banter was so funny that the station gave them their own show in 1946. And that, as they say, is that. They mostly parodied the medium of radio. Brilliantly offbeat takeoffs on popular soap operas, mystery shows, quiz shows, contests...you name it. It was perfect. They kept performing together until 1988, not only on radio but on TV as well. They appeared in a few movies and Broadway shows. And they did a few books...including this one. [(Dramatic theme music. Establish and under for) Announcer: And now the makers of Tingle—the long-wearing dental floss created from spun glass fiber—invite you to join us for another exciting adventure of Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy. (Theme music up briefly and then out) Litzinger: My name is Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy. I work with quiet efficiency on some of the toughest espionage assignments our government can hand out. Recently, we got word that a hostile foreign power was trying to crack the secret code that our Navy uses in the Pacific. It was my job to find out if the enemy had been successful. So I went to an island near the Philippines where foreign ships refuel—and made my way to a tavern that I knew was a favorite hangout for visiting sailors... (Sound: General crowd noise under and hold for) Bartender: What'll it be, Mac? Beer? Litzinger: A blue moon over salmon-pink mountains. Bartender: Sorry. I don't know much about making those fancy cocktails. What's in it? Litzinger: Oh, that's not a drink, my good man. I thought you were one of our agents, so I gave you the secret greeting. You see, I'm Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy. Here's my business card.] Even if I had a sore throat, I laughed my ass off. Radio was so much more fun back then. The book's out of print (of course!), but I've found copies online, on the high seas, in used book shops, and in libraries. You can also borrow it for free from the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/writeifyougetwor00elli Incidentally, you can listen to old Bob & Ray shows on the Internet Archive. They're wonderful! https://archive.org/details/bob-and-ray-1948-08-26-roving-reporter-ray-goulding One last thing to mention: Bob Elliott had a son who worked on "Late Night With David Letterman", named Chris Elliott. He did a lot of great comedy bits there, and had several TV series later on–including the incredibly funny "Get A Life". Bob played Chris' father on the show. Happy reading (and listening)! 🤓📖 Here's a complete spreadsheet of all the books I've recommended on Mastodon to date (along with links to each post): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzubtaPojvprNwZCeR6N4xzCpZzMeb4xrrEHPtk6Bvx3RGj1Bxdg2KWY0CcjHjxUfMTGTF1eYpyoFn/pubhtml #Books #Bookstadon #Humor #Radio #Classic #Comedy #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #DailyBookRecs #QuasitBookRecs

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "Oath of Fealty" (1981) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Age Range: 17 to adult Genre: Science Fiction Here's a book that's a bit different: it's about an arcology. Are you familiar with arcologies? If not, I'm guessing you're not an architect. An archology is essentially a whole city contained in a single huge building. It includes residential apartments, shops, parks, swimming pools...anything a person could want. In theory you could live your whole life in one and never need to leave. A lot of architects have taken interest in the concept over the years, and there are a few partially-built or complete archologies in existence. "Oath of Fealty" takes place in the near-to-mid future. After a massive fire in Los Angeles, a major corporation arranged to build an archology on the land: Todos Santos. It's a huge building, four square miles with a population of nearly 250,000 residents. But Todos Santos has enemies. Politicians, environmental terrorists, and hostile citizens of Los Angeles. The management are experts, and some of them have a special advantage: neural links to the archology computer. It's not AI, but it's like having the internet constantly on tap just by thinking about it. [The tables were long and narrow, with a pair of moving beltways down the center. Dirty dishes came from their right, and a continuous stream of food and beverages and clean utensils poured from some cornucopia to the left. "Take a place," Art Bonner said. "You can choose your own company, or wait for someone to choose you." "No reservations?" Reedy asked. "No. It's a random proposition." Bonner led them to an empty stretch at a long table. "Scheduling's going to catch hell for this if it doesn't fill up." He paused for a moment to stare at nothing. That's the value of that implant, Rand thought. He's just made a note, with all the details, and tomorrow MILLIE will remind him to think about schedules.] It's a thick book and a long story, but it's not a tedious read. It feels like a cross between science fiction and a thick mainstream epic or disaster novel. Which isn't surprising, because Niven and Pournelle wrote a few such books. I'll note that the villains are a bit dated; crazed environmental activists who hate progress and technology, but are proven utterly wrong. Niven and Pournelle are a pair of old right-wingers, and it shows. But they're not TOO obnoxious about it. As with yesterday's novel, the politics don't get in the way of the story. If the concept of archologies interests you, Mack Reynolds also wrote some novels about them. I'll be recommending some of those novels in the future. The book's still in print, and it's available in ebook format from the usual suspects as well (please don't use Amazon). You'd have a good chance of finding used copies in used book shops. And it's available to borrow freely from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/oathoffealty0000larr You can find a complete spreadsheet of all the books I've recommended here to date (along with links to each post) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzubtaPojvprNwZCeR6N4xzCpZzMeb4xrrEHPtk6Bvx3RGj1Bxdg2KWY0CcjHjxUfMTGTF1eYpyoFn/pubhtml Happy reading! 🤓📖 #Books #Bookstodon #ScienceFiction #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #DailyBookRecs #QuasitBookRecs

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "The Stainless Steel Rat" (1979) by Harry Harrison Age Range: 14 to adult Genre: Science Fiction, Humor "The Stainless Steel Rat" is the first book in one of the best series of humorous science fiction. It starts with a bang–literally. [When the office door opened suddenly I knew the game was up. It had been a money-maker—but it was all over. As the cop walked in I sat back in the chair and put on a happy grin. He had the same somber expression and heavy foot that they all have—and the same lack of humor. I almost knew to the word what he was going to say before he uttered a syllable. “James Bolivar diGriz I arrest you on the charge—” I was waiting for the word •charge•, I thought it made a nice touch that way. As he said it I pressed the button that set off the charge of black powder in the ceiling, the crossbeam buckled and the three-ton safe dropped through right on the top of the cop’s head. He squashed very nicely, thank you. The cloud of plaster dust settled and all I could see of him was one hand, slightly crumpled. It twitched a bit and the index finger pointed at me accusingly. His voice was a little muffled by the safe and sounded a bit annoyed. In fact he repeated himself a bit. “ … On the charge of illegal entry, theft, forgery—” He ran on like that for quite a while, it was an impressive list but I had heard it all before. I didn’t let it interfere with my stuffing all the money from the desk drawers into my suitcase. The list ended with a new charge and I would swear on a stack of thousand credit notes •that• high that there was a hurt tone in his voice. “In addition the charge of assaulting a police robot will be added to your record. This was foolish since my brain and larynx are armored and in my midsection—” “That I know well, George, but your little two-way radio is in the top of your pointed head and I don’t want you reporting to your friends just yet.”] James Bolivar diGriz is the Stainless Steel Rat, a criminal in a world–or rather, worlds–of high technology, advanced science, and space travel. [It is a proud and lonely thing to be a stainless steel rat—and it is the greatest experience in the galaxy if you can get away with it.] Jim robs banks, runs scams, and is generally open to any kind of crime you can think of–except murder. That's one thing he won't do. But he does everything else with verve, gusto, and humor. But nothing lasts forever, so it isn't long before–wait. That's a spoiler, so I'll put it a content-warned comment below. The series is pretty big. Most of the books start with "The Stainless Steel Rat", such as "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge", "The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted", or "The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell". You can look up the whole series on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat There's another classic series of humorous science fiction that in some ways is similar to the SSR series, but •that• one could be seen as a bit sexist (and possibly even racist towards aliens). I'll recommend it later nonetheless (it's very funny), but I decided to go with the SSR series first. Jim's a little old-fashioned, but women are treated with more respect than in the other series. As far as I can tell ALL of the Stainless Steel Rat books are still in print, and all of them are available as ebooks as well. You can also borrow "The Stainless Steel Rat" (and, no doubt, many of the sequels) for free from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/stainlesssteelra0000unse There's a complete spreadsheet of all the books I've recommended here to date (along with links to each post) available online. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzubtaPojvprNwZCeR6N4xzCpZzMeb4xrrEHPtk6Bvx3RGj1Bxdg2KWY0CcjHjxUfMTGTF1eYpyoFn/pubhtml Happy reading! 🤓📖 #Books #Bookstodon #ScienceFiction #Humor #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #DailyBookRecs #QuasitBookRecs

Quasit's Daily Book Recommendations: "Space Cadet" (1948) by Robert A. Heinlein Category: Juvenile/YA to adult Genre: Science Fiction I'm trying to avoid really well-known books with these recommendations. For example, I love "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955); if this was the world of Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" (1953) I would BE TLOTR. But as an old reader, it's hard for me to judge what books modern readers are likely to know. "The Lord of the Rings" is probably an exception. But what about Zelazny's Amber books? Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy? Frank Herbert's "Dune"? I don't know. But one thing I DO know is that a lot of wonderful books are basically forgotten these days. I have an old friend who's a YA librarian; we've been on a lot of panels together over the years, particularly about YA and children's literature. He told me that the library doesn't have ANY of Heinlein's juveniles, because nobody has read them for decades. That horrifies me. Heinlein's juveniles turned MILLIONS of young readers into lifelong science fiction fans. If the books aren't in libraries, where will the next generation of science fiction fans come from? Beyond that, they're •such• good books. They deserve readers. And I pity young readers for not getting to experience them. By the way, Wikipedia has an article about them, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles . The first Heinlein juvenile was "Rocket Ship Galileo" (1947). Frankly, it's not that good; it's pretty old-fashioned. Boys build a rocket and fly to the Moon to fight Nazis at their secret base. It's as corny as it sounds. I'm not saying it's terrible, but it's definitely weak. Heinlein really hit his stride with the second book, though; "Space Cadet" is great science fiction AND a wonderful coming-of-age story. Matt Dodson is a young man–or an old boy– who has been accepted as a cadet by the Interplanetary Patrol. It's an organization which preserves the peace of the planets of the solar system. We join him as he's reporting for testing and evaluation. He makes new friends and is introduced to the customs and traditions of the Patrol. He even makes an enemy, of sorts. [Once he was given a handful of beans and a small bottle, and was told to sit down and place the bottle at a mark on the floor and locate in his mind the exact position of the bottle. Then he was to close his eyes and drop the beans one at a time into the bottle—if possible. He could tell from the sound that he was not making many hits, but he was mortified to find, when he opened his eyes, that only one bean rested in the bottle. He hid the bottom of his bottle in his fist and queued up at the examiner’s desk. Several of those lined up had a goodly number of beans in their bottles, although he noted two with no beans at all. Presently he handed his bottle to the examiner. “Dodson, Matthew, sir. One bean.” The examiner noted it without comment. Matt blurted out, “Excuse me, sir—but what’s to keep a person from cheating by peeking?” The examiner smiled. “Nothing at all. Go on to your next test.” Matt left, grumbling. It did not occur to him that he might not know what was being tested.] Matt gets to space, learns a lot, and is eventually assigned to his first few missions. They make for exciting, involving stories. Heinlein was a master storyteller in the tradition of Kipling; eventually his fame overcame his good sense and he started writing some pretty perverted stuff, but by then the juveniles were long over. At this point he was just writing really good, immersive science fiction for young adults. The book is still in print (I hope), and also available as an audiobook and ebook from the usual suspects. It's not rare to find copies in used book shops. And of course it's available to borrow freely from the Internet Archive! https://archive.org/details/spacecadet0000hein Happy reading! 🤓📖 #Books #Bookstodon #ScienceFiction #YA #Juvenile #Heinlein #BookRecs #BookRecommendations #QuasitBookRecs

Speaking of book recommendations: if anyone would like a personalized book recommendation, please feel free to ask! I've probably read more books, particularly older books, than 99% of the human race. And my memory for books is unusually good. So I'd be glad to make a recommendation for anyone who needs one. Now, I •will• note that I haven't read that many books that were published after the year 2000 or so. I've read some, and I'm trying to read more, but just not that many. Also I've seen a trend in book recommendation requests that I really can't oblige. Some people seem to want books that are written by someone who is exactly like themselves and which are about someone exactly about themselves. So, for example: "I want a book written by a left-handed red-haired triple amputee with a birthmark the shape of an iguana on a pineapple who's only attracted to toothless Algerian basket-weavers and has an allergy to water. The book needs to be about a stamp collector who has a pet monkey with purple fur and learns to overcome their fear of leprechauns." Okay, I'm exaggerating but not by that much. If you want a recommendation like that, I can't help you! Otherwise, I'm all ears. 🤣 #Books #Bookstodon #QuasitBookRecs #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Can anyone recommend me some (online available ;) ) CS textbook that explains Elias-Fano encoding (and SELECT queries on it specifically) in a readable manner? The original papers are annoying and my advisor just told me "it's popular enough that you can just ask your favourite LLM about it" and hell no #csacademia #csresearch #cs #academicchatter #shadowlibrary #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #llm