New Message Board

Some people (I am not naming names but you know who you are) talk so much that a poor innocent lass cannot locate a message board, which she thinks used to exist somewhere in the Salon. In the stacks maybe?

Anyway, at the risk of having rotten tomatoes on steroids hefted at me because the hefters virulently hate Anthony Powell about as much as they hate Lord of the Rings and I hate John Cowper Powys (sorry porius, I gave Powys another try a few weeks ago and I broke out in hives), I wish to tell you about this freebie:

University of Chicago Press offers one free ebook from its catalog each month. They pick; you don't. Up to now and perhaps in the future, these all had to be read on the Adobe Digital Editions platform (free)--different from Adobe Reader. But this month they are offering the first volume of Anthony Powell's 12-volume very long novel A Dance to the Music of Time in a variety of e-book formats for free. I just downloaded my freebie from Amazon. Oh and for those of you who prefer the physical format, that will be available as well (for the December offering). There's a promo code for the physical book at the bottom of this post, but I don't know if that's specific to me so please don't use it. Go to http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ebooks/free_ebook.html and sign up for your own free account. Here's the message U of C P sent me.

Since you previously requested a free e-book from the University of Chicago Press, we thought you'd like to know about the December free e-book selection. (If you prefer not to hear about future e-books from Chicago, you may unsubscribe below.)

Anthony Powell’s universally acclaimed epic A Dance to the Music of Time offers a matchless panorama of twentieth-century London. Now, for the first time in decades, you can read the books of Dance as they were originally published—as twelve individual novels—but with a twenty-first-century twist: the individual novels are available only as e-books. And in the month of December, the first novel, A Question of Upbringing, is free!

Get your free e-book edition of A Question of Upbringing during the month of December.

During the month of December, all Dance volumes—physical and e-book—are 30% off! Use promo code DANCE30.

And, this month, gifted in more formats! The 12 volumes of Dance to the Music of Time are being released this month in the Kindle, B&N Digital, Sony, and Borders e-book stores. And the first novel, A Question of Upbringing, is free in all those stores through the end of December! Happy Holidays!

Was this the thread you couldn't find, Urania?

http://www.librarything.com/topic/90710

So I obviously need to work on my reading comprehension, but just to confirm: the e-book is free but the physical book is 30% off?

Thanks for posting this!

I'm not sure. The wording is a bit vague since Borders doesn't have an e-reader. It may be free as well.

The U of C book sale looks pretty good, apart from the freebie.

Can we relabel this the "Gud Beuks Cheep" thread.

Very cool! Thanks for posting, Urania! We all love freebies - and anything straight from the publisher is good for me!

A_musing,

U of C has the latest volume of the Mahabharata on sale.

Thanks for the heads-up, Urania1. BTW, Borders does have an ereader. The Kobo: http://www.borders.com/online/store/MediaView_koboereader

There's lots of lists and freebies about, true, glad to see them all, but when the list brouhaha dies down, and the freebies are nowhere to be found, Le Salon can look forward to going through each entry of this, another list!, The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: The History of Thought from Ancient Times to Today because I happened upon it today. It's easily the most diverse, global list I've encountered yet. I'm so excited. I can barely restrain myself from starting the thread.

There is no way of determining which 100 books are the most influential ones ever written. Why? We cannot set forth with any rigor whatsoever criteria for "influential," here. Influential to whom? Influential about what? Context??? Book lists are absolutely ludicrous enterprises. They annoy the hell out of me. One cannot box up books or ideas in that fashion. And if one could so neatly box up books that way, the very boxing of the books would undermine their influence. I hate, Hate, HATE LISTS!!!

Oh really!

Do you hate this list then, too? Hmmm?

Not the same kind of list. Talking about what influenced one as a child is not the same thing as committing to a list. The childhood list was simple. I quickly jotted down the first books that came to mind as memorable for me. My only criterion (a simple and therefore rigorous one) was this: "what reading experiences come to mind right off the top of my head." I did not stop to reflect. That would have destroyed the rigor of the criterion. The fact that these books were the first ones that came to mind says something (I am not sure what) about their importance/influence on me as a child, which in turn had an influence on the person and reader I became and am becoming.

If asked to reflect on the matter, I would have a hard time coming up with the childhood list. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and The Secret Garden were my absolute favorite books. I reread all three books on a regular basis. I used to reread the first two several times a year. I think I can truthfully say that I have read both PP and JE at least a hundred times. And I have never taught either book to a class. That is more interesting than the fact that I have read The Odyssey at least a hundred times because for almost twenty years I taught it every semester.

I bought that copy of the Maha Bharata at full price.

FULL PRICE. Agggghhhh!

Interrupting this "Gud Beuks Cheep"/gruesome-battle-over-lists thread for a reminder:

Our first "underappreciated poet" chat with Jeffrey C. Alfier will begin, officially, next week Tuesday (Dec. 7). The thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/102407 Make a note, mark your calendar, read some poetry, whatever you need. See you there.

Right, back the conversation...Rique, the book has a 2.56 rating! For LT that's a critical shredding.

I know! It's HORRIBLE ... all the more reason to discuss why it's so HORRIBLE. 75% of the list is comprised of non-novels, all the more as well to examine it under the microscope, yes?

14 and 15, there are only two reviews, and the most critical one (giving only one star) is from someone who is mostly bothered by the fact he isn't following how they think the Bible should be interpreted, apparently. I would not take the rating as really meaning very much unless there were a lot more of them.

The Koran is in the top 30 Anna! You won't believe what's #1.

If it's not the Bible I will be surprised.

It's not!

'rique, I'm confessin', I piqued at yer list. I think it's ranked chrono-like rather than by how good or how smart or how many people have fallen on their knees and pounded their head against the floor worshippin' the book held high by the high-priestlyess. So that there numbero uno is just earlier than the bible, not better, or bigger, or more radiantly magneefeecint, raisin' for me the almighty quest of why not gilgamesh, but purrhaps I give away toooo much there.

Annnnd, if you look closely, you'll see a few hunerd years when only you-ropeans are on the list. He likes stuff that's old and far, but don't let 'em furn-a-ners get too close in time

20: Yes, I also succumbed to temptation, and it seems that it is not ranked by superiority but by chronology. But, maybe in sheer numerical terms the one at #1 is truly more influential than the Bible - but then again I doubt it.

Cybernetics? Is he serious????

Well at least he didn't include Dianetics!

What about BF Skinner? One of the best things I ever read was an essay by Chomsky taking down Behaviorism.

Oh, and so Chomsky would claim that we cannot gain access to a persons psyche by observing their behavior? Is that your point, ANNA!?

You're all just a bunch of deplorable cheaters!

No, he was more talking about Skinner's circular definition of "reinforcing" behavior. Chris and I have had a lot of fun discussing this because he thinks Behaviorism is useful practically (he has a social work background) although he admits it is theoretically incoherent and self-referential.

This is a real message

A small group of people have decided to form a forum to read the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist papers. You can find us at http://www.librarything.com/groups/thefederalistpapers#forums. We will not be starting up until January because of the holidays. If you know of someone who might be interested, please let them know about the group. It is a public group.

I applaud Urania's new group, The Federalist Group starting in January. I recommend that any salonista interested in U.S.A. political & philosophical history give this group a go, beginning in January, sounds like, though I'm sure Urania would prefer you join now, as ten so far have as of late this Friday evening. Looks to be a fascinating reading journey ...

Fyi: the salon now allows group members to post their own group pictures. Have at it. It's the least I could do for you common peasant peuple.

>27 urania1:-8 political science! huzzah!