CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[BrilloPad]

All of them until about 3 years ago. But I won't ready any more since I have worked out the formula:

• Introduce new nice character. Nice character does nice thing.
  
• Sharpe has a hangover; he saves his men in a skirmish.
  
• Sharpe meets nice character and they get on.
  
• Introduce the same villain as usual (probably that bloody sergeant yet again).
  
• Sharpe shags the local upper class tart-that's-down-on-her-luck.
  
• Main part of story copy 'n' pasted from a regimental museum pamphlet but with all the heroes names search 'n' replaced with "Sharpe".
  
• Villain murders nice character for no particular reason.
  
• Sharpe gets blamed for the Bad Thing but for no reason does not defend himself.
  
• Sharpe wins the battle and is promoted.
  
• Villain gets away with it.

Yawn.

And I thought you only read tpd?

[BrowneIssue]

Have you read the "Sharpe" series written by Bernard Cornwell.

Brilliant!

All of them until about 3 years ago. But I won't ready any more since I have worked out the formula:

• Introduce new nice character. Nice character does nice thing.
  
• Sharpe has a hangover; he saves his men in a skirmish.
  
• Sharpe meets nice character and they get on.
  
• Introduce the same villain as usual (probably that bloody sergeant yet again).
  
• Sharpe shags the local upper class tart-that's-down-on-her-luck.
  
• Main part of story copy 'n' pasted from a regimental museum pamphlet but with all the heroes names search 'n' replaced with "Sharpe".
  
• Villain murders nice character for no particular reason.
  
• Sharpe gets blamed for the Bad Thing but for no reason does not defend himself.
  
• Sharpe wins the battle and is promoted.
  
• Villain gets away with it.

Yawn.

[BrowneIssue]

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard.

It's bollocks.

[NickFitz]

How in the name of Fairy Queen Maeve and the seven goblins of Galway can one write 1300 pages on XSLT and XPATH ?!

There's a heck of a lot more to 2.0 than there was to 1.0. The XPath 2.0 function library alone requires 200 pages to document, which doesn't seem excessive given that the specification itself is 168 A4 pages in length.

[Diver]

How in the name of Fairy Queen Maeve and the seven goblins of Galway can one write 1300 pages on XSLT and XPATH ?!

Written by the anally retentive for the ..................?.

[OwlHoot]

Scalable Internet Architectures[/I] whilst continuing to work my way through the 1,316 pages of XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference.

How in the name of Fairy Queen Maeve and the seven goblins of Galway can one write 1300 pages on XSLT and XPATH ?!

[NickFitz]

I've recently finished reading Where are the Customers' Yachts? (a humorous analysis of the foolishness of Wall Street investors), Once in Golconda (a history of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and its ramifications) and Fooled by Randomness (an exposé of the way that mere chance, rather than actual insight or ability, dictates who wins and loses in the markets, and indeed in all walks of life).

Having been confirmed in my already-low opinion of the investment markets, I have now turned for light relief to Scalable Internet Architectures whilst continuing to work my way through the 1,316 pages of XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference.

[bored]

Ahh Peter F Hamilton....memories...A Second Chance At Eden, The Reality Dysfunction....

Currently reading The Temporal Void which just out came out this week. Excellent stuff - it's the second book of the series that started with The Dreaming Void so if you haven't read the first one, it's better to start there (or even with Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained which are set in the same universe).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Temporal-Voi.../dp/1405088834

[Diver]

The Rhythm Method

Superb, a brilliant read.

Yes, it's SFW

[Lockhouse]

Just finished....

The Rhythm Method

Superb, a brilliant read.