I like this site because they try to *explain* why they rate the books they like highly. Personally I'm a big fan of Ursula K LeGuin and Roger Zelazny.
On Nov 9, 2014, at 8:51, salyavin808 <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > Cheers, there's a lot of my faves there and a few new ones that I haven't > tried. And a couple of those are now on the way to me! > > > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : > > Try this site: > http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/top-25-best-science-fiction-books.php > > From: salyavin808 <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> > > ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote : > > There are actually groups of people who believe he was advocating a plan and > refer to a section of video taken out of context that makes it sound like he > was advocating it when he wasn't at all. > > Nowt so queer as folk. > > I haven't read a decent sci-fi book in decades. Can anyone recommend a recent > classic with the sort of vision of a Huxley or Heinlein? > > I've tried a lot of stuff from the library but rarely get past the first > chapter. There's a "masterworks" series of the greats on sale and I'e got > loads of them but there isn't much that's new. Some of Iain Banks's "Culture" > novels, which were OK but it was his unfeasable plot developments that > spoiled them. "Excession" was good though, proper scary meeting with a > genuine alien - or was it God? > > On 11/08/2014 10:16 AM, salyavin808 wrote: >> >> >> >> >> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote : >> >> Also anyone who believes that Huxley was advocating the world depicted in >> Brave New world should read his prologue to Brave New World Revisited. BNW >> was a warning not a plan. >> >> Eh? Did anyone think that really? His choice of hero being a human with >> normal emotions who was so appalled by the BNW gave it away a bit for me. >> Maybe other people identify with different characters in the book? I never >> even considered that. >> >> He didn't have to top himself though as he did have another option, he could >> have gone back to living in the wild where he came from. That's what I would >> have done but it was a more poetic protest to hang himself I suppose... >> >> >> On 11/07/2014 11:02 PM, TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: >> >> Anyone ignorant enough to post that Huxley was unfamiliar with meditation >> (see jr post below) has clearly never read his best novel, "Island." Huxley >> was practicing real meditation decades before Maharishi invented his faux >> version and called it TM. >> >> From: "jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> >> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com >> Sent: Saturday, November 8, 2014 6:34 AM >> Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Birth of the Hippies >> >> >> Bhairitu, >> >> Good point. According to Wikipedia, Huxley had association with the >> Vendanta society: >> >> Association with Vedanta[edit] >> >> Beginning in 1939 and continuing until his death in 1963, Huxley had an >> extensive association with the Vedanta Society of Southern California, >> founded and headed by Swami Prabhavananda. Together with Gerald Heard, >> Christopher Isherwood, and other followers he was initiated by the Swami and >> was taught meditation and spiritual practices.[3] >> In 1944, Huxley wrote the introduction to the "Bhagavad Gita: The Song of >> God",[22] translated by Swami Prabhavanada and Christopher Isherwood, which >> was published by The Vedanta Society of Southern California. >> From 1941 until 1960, Huxley contributed 48 articles to Vedanta and the >> West, published by the Society. He also served on the editorial board with >> Isherwood, Heard, and playwright John van Druten from 1951 through 1962. >> Huxley also occasionally lectured at the Hollywood and Santa Barbara Vedanta >> temples. Two of those lectures have been released on CD: Knowledge and >> Understanding and Who Are We from 1955. >> After the publication of The Doors of Perception, Huxley and the Swami >> disagreed about the meaning and importance of the LSD drug experience, which >> may have caused the relationship to cool, but Huxley continued to write >> articles for the Society's journal, lecture at the temple, and attend social >> functions. His agnosticism, together with his speculative propensity, made >> it difficult for him to fully embrace any form of institutionalized >> religion.Aldous Huxley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia >> >> >> >> >> Aldous Huxley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia >> AldousLeonard Huxley /ˈhʌksli/ (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an >> English writer, philosopher and a prominent member of the Huxley family... >> >> View on en.wikipedia.org >> Preview by Yahoo >> >> >> >> >> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote : >> >> What about the Vedanta Society? What about Paramahansa Yogananda? Arthur >> Avalon? Not to mention relatively unknowns who probably migrated to the UK >> and taught yoga. >> >> On 11/07/2014 05:49 PM, jr_esq@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: >>> >>> S3, >>> >>> Huxley didn't appear to know about the advantages of meditation. >>> Obviously, during his lifetime, TM was not around then. >>> >>> >>> >>> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote : >>> >>> Aldous Huxley quote (1931): >>> >>> "So far as I can see, the only possible new pleasure would be one derived >>> from the invention of a new drug — of a more efficient and less harmful >>> substitute for alcohol and cocaine. If I were a millionaire, I should endow >>> a band of research workers to look for the ideal intoxicant. If we could >>> sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, >>> abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing >>> exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only >>> worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, >>> world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next >>> morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution — then, it seems to >>> me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a >>> novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise." >>> >>> Sounds great - but I suspect that humans are so constituted that changing >>> our brains with chemicals is always going to have unwanted side-effects. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fleetwood_macncheese@...> wrote : >>> >>> I used to buy Ritalin over the counter, in Macau, and did a fair amount - >>> Yuck. Couldn't get weed, but any big pharma drug was there for the taking. >>> Bad situation. >>> >>> >>> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote : >>> >>> Re "Cocaine DEFINITELY sucks": >>> >>> Amen to that. Like you I only tried it a few times and the after-effects >>> were a warning I heeded. Ditto speed. >>> >>> God knows what I'd have felt like after a methamphetamine binge (the drug >>> of choice today) - pretty sure I'd be suicidal. > > > > > >
