# Whatcha readin' May (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452 "2008-04-30T11:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/101 "2008-05-16T03:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] You do? How does it work? In _Quicksilver_, Eliza writes long letters to various people. If you don’t know the code, it sounds like she’s discussing the latest fashions at court. She’s actually relaying political and strategic information. How can something make sense both coded and uncoded? How can “Satin is in, fur is out, and ostrich feathers are so yesterday” also mean “William of Orange is gathering troops near Amsterdam”? [/QUOTE] I don’t know. In our world it doesn’t make sense when it is encoded. It isn’t even \*supposed \*to. Books are written about the theory of strong encryption and I will confess that I don’t understand it well enough to explain it. Weak encryption isn’t too difficult to explain, but even that could take pages. A very very simple cypher is a letter substitution. A slightly less simple, but still rather simple cypher might use a phrase and logical XOR. There are cyphers that involve looking up the first letter on the page of books, such that you just list numbers, which correspond to the page. You can take that further and start listing number pairs, such that you go to a page, then count the words and look at the first letter (or the last letter) of the word. All of these are fun, but require special knowledge by both people (in this case both parties must know which book to use.) The Bible is popular because you can find it everywhere (in any hotel in any city.) But this isn’t really good for software. Strong encryption (which is what we must use) are usually block cyphers and though I can code the algorithm, I don’t think I could explain the theory. 9 times out of ten I will buy someone else’s code library and just call their code. Rather than try to give a primer, I will refer you to [How Stuff Works](http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/102 "2008-05-16T03:42:49Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I started this last night – you’re right, it’s excellent. My husband asks what I’m reading. “It’s about a cholera epidemic in London in the 1850’s.” “Ewwww.” [/QUOTE] I’m not familiar with that book, but I am familiar with that particular epidemic. That must be the one in Soho, in which the epidemic was ended with the removal of the handle to the Broad Street water pump, an action instigated by John Snow, who figured out it must be the water. Before Snow, no one knew what caused cholera. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/103 "2008-05-16T04:07:39Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] Rather than try to give a primer, I will refer you to [How Stuff Works](http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption1.htm) [/QUOTE] Thanks. I’ll look at that when my brain is fully rested. I had to wonder if the code Stephenson described was even possible. Later they used a binary code that Eliza “wrote” using stitches on a sampler. That one I could almost get my head around, but not the other. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/104 "2008-05-16T12:49:39Z")
I just started Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates. This is one I’ve always meant to get around to and it seems like it’s got a lot of potential so I’m burning to have some quality time to dig into it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/105 "2008-05-16T13:03:28Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I am always reluctant to chime in with a negative review when someone else has liked a book - I don’t want it to appear as if I’m attacking the person posting. But it bored the piss out of me. A friend had recommended it and about 1/3 of the way through I asked him when it would get interesting. He said if I didn’t find it interesting by then, I never would. I put the book down shortly after that. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard both love and hate reactions to the book - I think either you like his lenghty digressions, or you don’t. I happen to have liked them, to me they are what adds spice and flavour to the thing (same with the Baroque Cycle). ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/106 "2008-05-16T14:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I good observation. I remember him putting in way too much detail about trees that were covered with plastic bags and wondering how that detail impacted the plot. If it ever did, I didn’t get to that point in the book. I develop software and cryptology is part of what I do, so my friend thought I would be fascinated. Perhaps I just stopped too soon. [/QUOTE] I love a long, chatty book, and I’m entertained by Stephensons’s digressions, like the Captain Crunch bit (I used to know a guy who was almost that obsessed with that cereal). **Khadaji** , at first I wasn’t enjoying the storyline set in the 90’s as much as the one set during the war. I’m a firmware developer, and I already understand most the stuff Randy Waterhouse was explaining about “Finux” and networking and how video is displayed on a CRT, for example. But it got steadily better. Randy’s description of his trip into the jungle had me laughing out loud, as did the part where he figures out a way to fairly distribute his grandmother’s furniture among his aunt and uncles. But if you made it 1/3 of the way through, I think you read enough to determine that you just don’t like the way he writes. I haven’t gotten to the end of \*Cryptonomicon \*yet, but so far my only complaint about the writing is that he uses a lot of similes. There are maybe 3 or 4 per page. For 900 pages. It was distracting at first, but once I got sucked into the narrative it stopped bothering me. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/107 "2008-05-16T15:21:54Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] I just started Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates. This is one I’ve always meant to get around to and it seems like it’s got a lot of potential so I’m burning to have some quality time to dig into it. [/QUOTE] _The Anubis Gates_ was one of my June 2007 books – my best reading month ever. Every book had me going “Wow, this’ll be hard to beat”. The other books that month were Cloud Atlas, The Book Thief, The Book of Lost Things, Francine Prose’s reading/writing book, Softspoken, The Pesthouse, and What the Dead Know. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/108 "2008-05-16T16:06:51Z")
Just finished up the last two _Rouge Angel_ books, and wish I hadn’t bothered. Word to the wise, stop before _Provenance_. That book and the next one are pure crap. Got a phone call that _Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like a Skank_ just came in the bookstore, so hopefully I’ll get that today and have it to read. I think that _Cryptonomicon_ is going to be a library request or something. I hate plopping down money for something I don’t like. Or maybe I’ll see if someone has it at [paperbackswap.com](http://paperbackswap.com) . ---
**Author:** ![Tamryne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tamryne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamryne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/109 "2008-05-16T17:16:02Z")
I’m about halfway through Edward Rutherfurd’s _The Rebels of Ireland_. Its an alternate history take on Ireland from the 1500’s to its independence from England. It is quite a tome at almost 900 pages hardback, but an enjoyable school break read. I look forward to finishing it and reading some of his other books. I’m also working my way through Margaret Atwood’s \*The Blind Assassin \* again. I last read it a few years ago while in school, so now I am rereading it while I have time to truly digest it and not make myself confused. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/110 "2008-05-16T18:37:17Z")
Just picked up the following… “Darkmans” by Nicola Barker “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein “Affluenza” by Oliver James ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/111 "2008-05-17T19:09:25Z")
Reading the latest Dresden Files novel, [_Small Favor,_](http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/10/) by Jim Butcher. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/112 "2008-05-18T01:03:48Z")
I’m reading old science fiction short stories from James Tiptree, Jr and Henry Kuttner, alternating between _The Last Mimzy Stories_ and _Her Smoke Rose Up Forever_. they are both very good but Tiptree’s outlook depresses me a bit so I have to intersperse with other stuff. I think Kuttner was more of an optimist, and I can see why Alice Sheldon (Tiptree) ended up committing suicide. I’ve got _The Name of the Wind_ and I’m starting either that one or _Lies of locke Lamora_ next, haven’t decided yet. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/113 "2008-05-18T03:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] I just finished David Weber’s _Honor Among Enemies_. I’m enjoying this series. It’s a bit formulaic, but I get this little thrill at the end of each book when everyone gets pretty much what they deserve. If they survive, that is. The series has an extraordinary body count. [/QUOTE] I was at the bookstore about a week ago and spotted the Honor Harrington books. I remembered someone here at the Dope saying they were a good read so I decided to give them a try. I’m about 35 pages into _On Basilisk Station_ and am just not getting the love. I want to scream, enough with the backstory and other dull bits! Have something interesting happen, already! I’ll probably give up if nothing significant happens by page 50. Sigh. Finished _The Wizard Hunters_ by Martha Wells before that and thought that was a very good read. It’s fantasy but isn’t too heavy-handed with it, which suits me just fine. I have _The Ships of Air,_ which is actually the first of _The Fall of Ile Rien_ trilogy, on order at the book store. (_The Wizard Hunters_ is the second but I didn’t know that when I bought it.) Hope it’s in soon. I have Alastair Reynolds’ _Pushing Ice_ (Loved, loved, loved his novella _Understanding Time and Space_) and Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin’s _Three Cups of Tea_ next on my reading list. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/114 "2008-05-18T12:24:12Z")
In at the Death by David Wishhart. An ancient Roman detective story. although there are some things that irk me about the hero,its a good read and I recommend it. As I do the series. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/115 "2008-05-19T12:32:33Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] _The Anubis Gates_ was one of my June 2007 books – my best reading month ever. Every book had me going “Wow, this’ll be hard to beat”. [/quote] I got about halfway through and I’m loving it! I might listen to it as an audiobook later this year. [QUOTE=AuntiePam] The other books that month were Cloud Atlas, The Book Thief, The Book of Lost Things, Francine Prose’s reading/writing book, Softspoken, The Pesthouse, and What the Dead Know. [/QUOTE] Added some of these to my list as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/116 "2008-05-19T12:49:26Z")
After a quick jaunt through some **Order of the Stick** compilations, I am now starting _Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind._ It’s the story of Quinine, Sugar, Tea, Cotton, The Potato and Coca. So far, it’s not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/117 "2008-05-19T14:06:09Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] In at the Death by David Wishhart. An ancient Roman detective story. although there are some things that irk me about the hero,its a good read and I recommend it. As I do the series. [/QUOTE] Those look interesting. I didn’t realize there were so many detective series set in Ancient Rome. (That sounds weird - the plural of “series” is “series”.) I like Steven Saylor’s books, but so far I’m lukewarm about John Maddox Roberts’ SPQR series. I have the first of the Lindsey Davis books waiting to try. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/118 "2008-05-19T17:41:16Z")
**Tikki** I enjoyed _Pushing Ice_ a lot. Some of Reynold’s stuff is so-so, but that was a good book. Only falut I have with a few of his stories is that they leave a lot of unanswered questions. I finished up _Stop Dressing Your 6 Year Old Like a Skank!_ Satruday. It was funny in places, but I’m not sure I’ll be picking up her other books. It reads a lot like a Dope book actually, a series of colums that had been printed in the paper then collected into a book. I’m re-reading a couple of the Recluce books right now until I find something to spark my interest. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/119 "2008-05-19T17:51:21Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia] There are some technical bits in _Descartes’ Error_ that are a bit of a slog, but they’re skimmable. The book presents an interesting view of emotion, reason and the self. But I don’t have the expertise to spot flaws in his reasoning. Still, it’s a good read. Damasio is a good writer and comes off as an engaging compassionate human being. [/QUOTE] I’m enjoying it. I’m toying with the idea of picking up Gluck’s [response](https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/305399846) _Damasio’s Error, Descartes’ Truth_ just to see how he argues against the science presented. I also picked up [The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country](http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-American-Arguments-Enduring-Debates/dp/1400065445/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211219326&sr=1-1), which came straight from Jon Stewart’s book list. I really enjoyed the interview with Howard Fineman. The book does not disappoint. Mindless fun stuff: am re-reading Tom Holt’s Portable Door. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/120 "2008-05-19T17:52:02Z")
Just finished _The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread_, Don Robertson’s 1965 cult classic that has just been republished in paperback by HarperCollins (original publisher Putnam). I’d never read it before and I am rocked by its greatness. I will be seeking out more by this author, who died in 1999. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452.md?page=7)