Stickify:
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Geeze, having to memorize an entire book? I'd probably go with the Tao Te Ching. First off it's short, which would make the chore a lot easier to do. Also, it can be deep and give one lots to ponder without sounding haughty. Then again, I could sound like a Taoist sage just by reciting passages from it even if I ended up being a doofus in day to day conversations. I've got some other reasons too, but damn it sure would be easy to remember compared to some possible choices.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Most definitely, in fact too many to list comprehensively. Heck, I still do! I'm guessing here the intention is for fictional literary characters. Admittedly most of the fictional characters I've had crushes on have been animated or in comics, or heck even live action fictional characters. Still, too many to list. I will say that crushes on real people have been more complex, if not more fantasy fulfilling. :) Herm, just to mention a few even if they're not literary that come to mind:
Nausicaa (from kaze no tani no nausika)
Queen Emeraldas (from Captain Harlock)
Kusanagi Motoko (from Ghost in the Shell comics/films/etc.)
Aeon Flux
Matilda (from Leon)
The last book you bought is:
Well, I bought them for my wife at her request - a book of love poems, and also a book of Japanese poetry. Sadly, she took the love poems with her on her journey to Hawaii I think so I don't know the precise title, but she did leave the Japanese poetry book behind which is: _One Hundred Poems from the Japanese_ by Kenneth Rexroth.
The last book you read:
Ok, not counting the myriad books I read to my son on a nightly basis (he's five, but there are some damn good ones mixed in there mind you), but last week I finished:
_The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities_ by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt.
I can say that was one of the few books I've ever read that I legitimately felt I could say was "eye opening."
What are you currently reading?
Roughly ordered from closest to finishing to furthest from finishing (I tend to read a lot of books simultaneously in a queue which isn't rigidly ordered even if I'm placing order to them here):
_Verbal Judo - The Gentle Art of Persuasion_ by George J. Thompson, Ph.D. (way less dry than Non Violent Communication)
_Divorce Busting_ by Michele Weinger-Davis (not a book most people probably want to be in a situation to merit reading, but I have been, so there. It's so-so, actually _The Monogamy Myth - A Personal Handbook for Recovering from Affairs_ by Peggy Vaughan was the best in this category I've read so far and I've been reading a lot in this category of late)
_Non Violent Communication - A Language of Life_ by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
_The C Programming Language_ 2nd Edition by Brian W. Kernighan & Dennis M. Ritchie (K&R)
_The C Answer Book_ 2nd Edition by Clovis L. Tondo & Scott E. Gimpel (just to go along with the above, these last two I am going through slowly, but plan to pick up the pace)
Five books you would take to a deserted island:
1. _1999 Military Field Manual on Survival, Evasion, and Recovery Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force Multiservice Manual_ by Department of Defense http://www.equipped.com/multiservice_ser_manual_1999.pdf After all, I would want to stay alive, this looks like it has some good pointers, it's free to boot! Yeesh, so call my a pragmatist.
2. _The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer From First Principles_ By Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/ Jose pointed this out to me and I was actually just telling jsyn and some others about this. Though I don't own a copy for myself yet, I thought "Perfect! If I ever ended up on a deserted island hopefully I could use what's contained in this one book to build a computer from the ground up!" Ok, so computing on a deserted island isn't a high priority, but I really dig computers, and want to know them in a practical sense well enough that I could do something like that if needed. Such a book holds that promise, though perhaps the intended place for practicing the techniques described within is different than what I'm currently proposing. Maybe I'm just using this to demonstrate I'm not a pragmatist too. ;)
3. One of my bagua texts to keep in practice with my current favourite martial art. Possibly: _Classical Baguazhang, Volume I - BAGUAZHANG LIANXI FA (Baguazhang Practice Method)_ by Jiang Rongqiao, translated by Joseph Crandall.
4. The OED (Oxford English Dictionary). I love etymology, dictionaries, linguistics and the like, but moreover this lexicon is frigging HUGE, over many volumes, so it could serve me for years or decades before getting through it all, thus staving off boredom if I'm stranded for a really long time. If worse came to worse, it could also serve as building materials, or good kindling for fires. I wonder if I could live off the paper? Or maybe it would help with staying sanitary.
5. Man, this last slot needs some really good piece of fiction I think, something to spark the imagination, some piece of escapism, maybe with a bit of good outlook on life. Ideally pretty darn long too. Sadly I don't know what to put here in particular, maybe the series of _A Wrinkle in Time_? I haven't read those since gradeschool, but they were pretty neat, regardless I think I'd actually want some substantial body of fiction which I _hadn't_ yet read, so maybe I can't answer this one that well. As a matter of fact, I think almost all 5 of these texts I haven't read. I don't really like to reread books. Life is short enough without going over old ground, when there's limitless new things to explore.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?
Dan "danimal" Weeks - because he actually noticed I'd been sticked before I even posted a response of my own. For that he gets to indulge in the pleasure himself. ;)
Nick Rucka - a long time friend, he doesn't have a blog, but he reads more books than anyone I know (and probably watches more films too, I have no idea how he crams everything into his life and still has time to create so much). Maybe this would give him an incentive to start a blog. Plus, I'd like to hear his highlights given how wicked smart and literary he is. Mind you, he's a kickass film maker too, I hope we'll be seeing more from him soon in that respect. Of course, if he does setup a blog now I'll have to update this with a link.
Chris Abad - I had a lot of fun hanging out with aempirei at CanSecWest this year, and he's always got an interesting take on things. I'm sure that carries over into books he might read as well.
current stick path as it got to me: Barrie unleashed the stick on 3/7/05 - Amanda - scooterdeb - Brian - Karma Police - Evelio - Ivy - Suzanne - Jeff - Patricia Lockwood - Frank - Amy - Steve - Ginger - Scopylaw - AI - jose - me ...