| Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue? These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris. Oh lÀ lÀ, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—Sacré Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore. This book is better constructed than some of Chris's earlier works and is magnificent, not quite as much humor though. It will make a great movie.
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| The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions by Martin Gardner | |
| Science, Numbers and I. by Isaac Asimov. Although some argue that he over-simplifies, there is no one better at explaining science than Isaac Asimov. I received a baccalaureate degree with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics, and can honestly say that I learned a large percentage of my science from Asimov's books. His essays on science originally published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" are some of the best introductions to scientific topics that exist and this book is a collection of seventeen of them. The initial essay deals with the strict rules that nature appears to have for the conservation of properties. It is astonishing to think that scientists will hypothesize new particles before considering that a conservation rule is being broken. Some of the subsequent essays deal with other cosmological questions such as why it is not possible to travel faster than the speed of light. One that I would consider required reading of all chemistry students is the essay on the abbreviations for the elements. When an English speaker first encounters the periodic table, some of the representations, such as Na for sodium and K for potassium, seem unnecessarily confusing. A quick scan of the historical record demonstrates the reasons for this and why it will never be changed. It also demonstrates that science is an international endeavor. Some of the material is dated, the essay on the populations of various cities and countries is now obsolete, although the roles of cities in the lives of nations is now greater than ever. However, even with that premise, all of the essays still have contemporary value and you can learn something from each one of them. Best of all if you are an Asimov fan, you get insight into the mind of the author. | |
| Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels are one of the great masterworks of science fiction. As unsurpassed blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women dedicated to preserving humanity's light in a galaxy plunged into a nightmare of ignorance and violence thirty thousand years long. After years of struggle, the Foundation lies in ruins—destroyed by the mutant mind power of the Mule. But it is rumored that there is a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established to preserve the knowledge of mankind through the long centuries of barbarism. The Mule failed to find it the first time—but now he is certain he knows where it lies. The fate of the Foundation rests on young Arcadia Darell, only fourteen years old and burdened with a terrible secret. As its scientists gird for a final showdown with the Mule, the survivors of the First Foundation begin their desperate search. They too want the Second Foundation destroyed…before it destroys them. | |
The Sensuous Dirty Old Man-by Dr. A. Actually writen by Issac Asimov and inspired by two best sellers of the time: The Sensuous Woman by J. And, The Senuous Man by M. These authors used only an inital because of fears of backlash and to capitalize on yet another book Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask by Dr. Ruben. The Sensuous Dirty Old Man is a humorous look at sex and what we men should be aspiring to in our dotage. With utter frankness, Dr. A. touches on every angle of the art of being not only a dirty old man, but a sensuous dirty old man: the stare, the leer, the snicker, the snort, the fatherly squeeze, the uncle-ish tweak, and the “problems”: What do you say when the husband arrives? What do you do when you meet that dread adversary, the dirty old woman? This book is hard to find. It has been out of print for years, but it is worth finding. | |
The Sensuous Man by M. This was pretty resque for the 70s. Yes there was a sexual revolution in the 60s but most of us in the main stream hadn't caught on yet and were desperate for knowlege we didn't have the courage to ask women about. "You may not know it, but the way men and women make love has changed. Men can no longer get by on good looks and a good line. Women want more. Of course kids today know all about this and cannot imagine not knowing or seeing it on TV. | |
| The Sensuous Woman by J. Not too long ago only "bad" girls had a good time in bed. "Good" girls endured -- and wondered what they were missing. Then along came "J" and suddenly everything was different. She opened the eyes -- and minds -- of millions of American women with her explicit step-by-step account of her pursuit of the ultimate in sexual pleasure. Now here's the book that has set off fireworks in bedrooms across America, the book that will teach every woman how to free her body, train her senses, and tap her own hidden erotic resources. The book designed to make you the woman every man yearns to make love to -- the woman you yearn to be.
Quite dated 40 years latter but still a good read. | |
| The Sex Lives of the Cannibals-by J. Maarten Troost. No sex but a very humorous look at island life. A curious mixture of the trials and tribulations of a western couple trying to live with the natives on Tarawa. If this book doesn't make you laugh, there is a good chance you are dead--dial 911. It is a 2004 travelogue by author J. Maarten Troost describing the two years he and his girlfriend spent living on the Tarawa atoll in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. In the book Troost describes how he came to discover that the tiny sliver of land in the South Pacific, barely known to the outside world, was not the tropical paradise he thought it would be. Nevertheless, he and his girlfriend Sylvia build a home for themselves in Kiribati, alongside a host of colorful local characters, all the while having new encounters with the bizarre and unfamiliar. | |
| Shadows on the Grass by Isacc Dinesen nee Baroness Karen von Blixen. Isak Dinesen takes up the absorbing story of her life in Kenya begun in the unforgettable "Out of Africa", which she published 1932-33. With warmth and humanity these four stories illuminate her love both for the African people, their dignity and traditions, and for the beauty and wildness of the landscape. The first three were written in the 1950s and the last, 'Echoes from the Hills', was written especially for this volume in the summer of 1960 when the author was in her seventies and close to the end of her life. In all, they provide a moving final chapter to her African reminiscences. | |
| The Shining by Stephen King. In 1976, Jack Torrance is an aspiring writer who is attempting to rebuild his marriage and career, both of which have been nearly ruined by two traits inherited from his late father: alcoholism and an explosive temper. During one occasion while drinking, Jack broke his son's arm. This incident shocked him into sobriety, but Jack's temper continued to plague him: he lost his teaching position at a Vermont prep school after assaulting a student who slashed his car's tires in a revenge act for giving him a bad grade. Jack eagerly accepts a job as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, an isolated resort in the Colorado Rockies. Jack hopes that the seclusion will help him reconnect with his family and give him inspiration and the peace and quiet to help him write a new play. Jack, his wife Wendy, and their five-year-old son, Danny—who has telepathic abilities unknown to his parents—move into the Overlook. As the Torrances settle in at the Overlook, Danny sees frightening ghosts and visions. Although Danny is close to Jack, he does not tell either of his parents about his visions because he senses that the caretaking job is important to his father and the family's future. Wendy considers leaving Jack at the Overlook to finish the job on his own; Danny refuses, thinking his father will be happier if they stay. However, Danny soon realizes that his presence in the hotel makes the supernatural activity more powerful, turning echoes of past tragedies into dangerous threats. Apparitions take form, the garden's topiary animals come to life, and objects such as party favors mysteriously appear in strange places. The Overlook has difficulty possessing Danny, so it begins to possess Jack, frustrating his need and desire to work. Jack starts to develop cabin fever, and the sinister ghosts of the hotel gradually begin to overtake him, making him increasingly unstable. One day, after a fight with Wendy, Jack finds the hotel's bar fully stocked with alcohol despite being previously empty, and witnesses a party, where he meets the ghost of a bartender named Lloyd. As he gets drunk, the hotel urges Jack to kill his wife and son. He initially resists, but the increasing influence of the hotel proves too great. Wendy and Danny get the better of Jack, locking him into the walk-in pantry, but the ghost of Delbert Grady, a former caretaker who murdered his family and then committed suicide, releases him. | |
| The Silent Wrecks of Kwajalein Atoll During the months of July and August 2000, members of Oceanic Research Group along with history and dive specialists filmed the underwater sequences for their fifth full-feature documentary, The Silent Wrecks of Kwajalein Atoll. During the Second World War, Japanese and American forces fought for control of the Pacific. Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, saw several battles during which many ships and planes came to rest on the floor of her lagoon. This film examines the battle for Kwajalein through the underwater wrecks of those battles. Because Kwajalein has remained a U. S. military base since the war, few filmmakers have been able to film these wrecks, but Oceanic Research Group was granted permission by the U. S. Army and the Republic of Marshall Islands to enter her waters. | |
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations.... It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around which spins this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel, in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine--while the illusions that obscure humanity's view of the true universe fall away, one by one, like Salome's veils.
Skinny Legs and All deals with today's most sensitive issues: race, politics, marriage, art, religion, money, and lust. It weaves lyrically through what some call the "end days" of our planet. Refusing to avert its gaze from the horrors of the apocalypse, it also refuses to let the alleged end of the world spoil its mood. And its mood is defiantly upbeat.
In the gloriously inventive Tom Robbins style, here are characters, phrases, stories, and ideas that dance together on the page, wild and sexy, like Salome herself. Or was it Jezebel? | |
| Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt gave this novel a grade of D, but I disagre with him. It is convoluted and many readers will miss most of the irony, but it is a great book, especially for Vonnegutphiles. The novel is in the form of an autobiography of Dr. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain. Dr. Swain tells us that he lives in the ruins of the Empire State Building with his pregnant granddaughter, Melody Oriole-2 von Peterswald, and her lover, Isadore Raspberry-19 Cohen. Dr. Swain is a hideous 7-foot-tall man whose ugliness, and that of his twin sister Eliza, caused his parents to cut them off from modern society. The siblings came to realize that, when in close physical contact, they form a vastly powerful and creative intelligence. Through reading and philosophizing together, Wilbur and Eliza combated the feelings of loneliness and isolation that would otherwise have ruined their childhood. Throughout the book, Wilbur claims that his sister Eliza is the more intelligent of the two, but that no one realizes it because she can't write. Wilbur and Eliza are like two halves of a brain, with Wilbur the left brain -- logical, rational, able to communicate -- and Eliza the right brain: creative, emotional, but unable to communicate effectively.
I suspect that Vonnegut saw some of his own failings in Dr. Swain and thus the low grade. | |
| Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. His best book IMO. He also gave it an A+. Like Tom Robbins, Vonnegut often appears in his own books. People like to catagorize Vonnegut as a science fiction writer. Well, maybe so, but he is a satirist with an acerbic wit first and fomost. The beauty of Slaughterhouse-Five is that you must either accept the protagonist's point of view or come to the conclusion that you are crazy. This is truly a scary but delightful book. | |
| Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. | |
| South Seas Tales by Jack London. This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library. | |
Starship Trooper by Robert A. Heinlein. This is one of Robert A. Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe—and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind’s most alarming enemy. Made into an excellent movie. This is both a prowar and antiwar book at the same time. Like most of Heinlein's books it forces you to think.
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| Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. A brilliant best seller and cult favorite. Michael Valentine Smith, an earthman, but raised on Mars, returns to Earth to teach humankind a better way to live. Grok that. | |
| Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. This is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads. | |
| The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore. A week before Christmas in Pine Grove, CA but not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead. Fortunately a lurking but inept angel is nearby to grant Joshua Incredibly funny book. Do not read alone, you could have a heart attack laughing. And, this is not his best book. | |
| Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood by Alexander Sut Neill. This is the anthisis of Lord of the Flies. Summerhill takes the tact that all chlidren are good and capable of learning with minimal intervention. As American education lags behind the rest of the world, Summerhill is more timely than ever. The children of today face struggles far greater than any previous generation and we, as parents and teachers, must teach them now to make choices for themselves and to learn from the outcome of their decisions. | |
| Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. A terrible storm strands a Swiss pastor, with his wife and four sons, on a tropical island. Luckily, the Robinsons are optimistic and inventive, and with what they salvage from the wrecked ship, the island's abundant fruits, plants, and animals, they soon adapt - each day discovering new dangers, skills, and delights in their strange new life. Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss, the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance. Wyss's attitude toward education is in line with the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many of the episodes have to do with Christian-oriented moral lessons such as frugality, husbandry, acceptance, cooperation, etc. The adventures are presented as a series of lessons in natural history and the physical sciences, and resemble other, similar educational books for children in this period, such as Charlotte Turner Smith's Rural Walks: in Dialogues intended for the use of Young Persons (1795), Rambles Further: A continuation of Rural Walks (1796), A Natural History of Birds, intended chiefly for young persons (1807). But the novel differs in that it is modeled on Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, a genuine adventure story, and presents a geographically impossible array of mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants (including the Bamboos, Cassavas, Cinnamon Trees, Coconut Palm Trees, Fir Trees, Flax, Myrica cerifera, Rice, Rubber Plant Potatoes, Sago Palms and an entirely fictitious kind of Sugarcane) that probably could never have existed together on a single island for the children's edification, nourishment, clothing and convenience. Jules Verne takes a different path to telling the same tale in Mysterious Island |
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