[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

We can see that his complaints about not being able to have polite
discussions are empty.

[Boon[_2_]]

On Mar 31, 8:03*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"





wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

We can see that his complaints about not being able to have polite
discussions are empty.

I've tried to engage him in music and audio discussion, but he
refuses. He's here to troll.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 9:01*pm, Boon wrote:
On Mar 31, 8:03*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"





wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"

wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

We can see that his complaints about not being able to have polite
discussions are empty.

I've tried to engage him in music and audio discussion, but he
refuses. He's here to troll.

He's not very good at that either.

It looks like he's pretty worthless.

[Boon[_2_]]

On Mar 31, 9:12*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
On Mar 31, 9:01*pm, Boon wrote:





On Mar 31, 8:03*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"

wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"

wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

We can see that his complaints about not being able to have polite
discussions are empty.

I've tried to engage him in music and audio discussion, but he
refuses. He's here to troll.

He's not very good at that either.

It looks like he's pretty worthless.

Considering how much time he spents on the Internet during working
hours, I bet his supervisors say the same thing.

[GeoSynch]

Buffoon bumbled:

Considering how much time he spents [sic] on the Internet

And yet another thought-process error by the bumbler.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 9:01*pm, Boon wrote:
On Mar 31, 8:03*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"





wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"

wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

We can see that his complaints about not being able to have polite
discussions are empty.

I've tried to engage him in music and audio discussion, but he
refuses. He's here to troll.

What three books would you say are your all-time favorites?

I'd say (off the top of my head) Anna Karenina, Catch-22 and maybe
David Copperfield. Little Big Man (great movie as well). Two Years
Before the Mast which gives an insightful look into California when
the white (not angry white, just white) population of that state was
probably in the low hundreds.

There are a few military-related books, for example Shelby Foote's
very readable history of the Civil War or "A Few Great Captains", that
are up there too. the Caine Mutiny and Mutiny on the Bounty. The list
goes on and on.

It's kind of funny. I don't think I could possibly stop at three and
ScottW cannot come up with one.

I wonder if ScottW would ever consider joining a friendly discussion
on literature.

[Boon[_2_]]

On Mar 31, 9:27*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What three books would you say are your all-time favorites?

That's an easy one for me, since my degree is in Literature, and I
specialized in 20th Century American Novelists.

I loved On the Road for much of my younger days, but I think I burned
myself out on Kerouac a few years ago. Still, I consider it my
favorite because it's connected to a very important time of my life. I
also love The Sound and the Fury, The Grapes of Wrath, The Sun Also
Rises, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tobacco Road, The Sheltering Sky...crap,
that's more than three.

I revisit both Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow every few years to push
myself. Of contemporaries, I enjoy T. Coraghessan Boyle, Thomas
McGuane, Peter Matthiessen, Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick. (I don't
know if the last two qualify as contemporaries since they've passed
on, but I refer to the fact that their output was focused on the
latter part of the century.)


I'd say (off the top of my head) Anna Karenina, Catch-22 and maybe
David Copperfield. Little Big Man (great movie as well). Two Years
Before the Mast which gives an insightful look into California when
the white (not angry white, just white) population of that state was
probably in the low hundreds.

I enjoy Catch-22. I have a first edition hardcover of it.


There are a few military-related books, for example Shelby Foote's
very readable history of the Civil War or "A Few Great Captains", that
are up there too. the Caine Mutiny and Mutiny on the Bounty. The list
goes on and on.

I liked The Caine Mutiny as well. I also enjoyed From Here to
Eternity, the Naked and the Dead, and Tales of the South Pacific.

I'll tell you what's a great book...Deliverance by James Dickey.
Forget the movie (although it is a good movie). Dickey was a poet, and
Deliverance was his only novel. He has a fantastic gift for phrasing.

I also have a soft spot for short stories. Some of my favorite writers
in that form are Flannery O'Connor, John Updike and the aforementioned
Boyle.

Since I've spent the first forty-odd years of my life reading
literature, I've tried to expand my horizons with more non-fiction
over the last few years.


It's kind of funny. I don't think I could possibly stop at three and
ScottW cannot come up with one.

I wonder if ScottW would ever consider joining a friendly discussion
on literature.

I seriously doubt it. Engineers generally aren't fiction readers.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 10:07*pm, Boon wrote:
On Mar 31, 9:27*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:

What three books would you say are your all-time favorites?

That's an easy one for me, since my degree is in Literature, and I
specialized in 20th Century American Novelists.

I loved On the Road for much of my younger days, but I think I burned
myself out on Kerouac a few years ago. Still, I consider it my
favorite because it's connected to a very important time of my life. I
also love The Sound and the Fury, The Grapes of Wrath, The Sun Also
Rises, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tobacco Road, The Sheltering Sky...crap,
that's more than three.

Yeah, Steinbeck is a favorite. Believe it or not I haven't read Harper
Lee yet but I have Mockingbird here in my "to read" pile. Most of my
books are in storage.

While I liked "Old Man and the Sea" I confess to being outside the
norm. I remain predominately unmoved by Hemingway. Some of his short
stories were OK. I'll give him another go as I have a couple here.
Don't forget Fitzgerald or Sinclair Lewis.

Twain is another all-time fave. "A Connecticut Yankee" may be my top
one there.

I revisit both Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow every few years to push
myself. Of contemporaries, I enjoy T. Coraghessan Boyle, Thomas
McGuane, Peter Matthiessen, Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick. (I don't
know if the last two qualify as contemporaries since they've passed
on, but I refer to the fact that their output was focused on the
latter part of the century.)

P.G. Wodehouse, Vonnegut (I think I've read everything he's published)
Tim O'Brien (ditto), David Sedaris, Theodore Dreiser (these are not
all contemporaries either)...

I'd say (off the top of my head) Anna Karenina, Catch-22 and maybe
David Copperfield. Little Big Man (great movie as well). Two Years
Before the Mast which gives an insightful look into California when
the white (not angry white, just white) population of that state was
probably in the low hundreds.

I enjoy Catch-22. I have a first edition hardcover of it.

I read it before I joined the military and again after. It was funny
both times but for different reasons. A brilliant book. I've read a
couple other Heller novels. He was really good.

There are a few military-related books, for example Shelby Foote's
very readable history of the Civil War or "A Few Great Captains", that
are up there too. the Caine Mutiny and Mutiny on the Bounty. The list
goes on and on.

I liked The Caine Mutiny as well. I also enjoyed From Here to
Eternity, the Naked and the Dead, and Tales of the South Pacific.

Mitchener's best IMO. Caravans was also very good and with the war in
Afghanistan pertinent today. I read it years ago though.

Irving Stone's "The Agony and the Ecstasy" gave me insight into and a
love of Michaelangelo which drove me to a 17-day tour of Italy. I've
never read any of his others though.

I'll tell you what's a great book...Deliverance by James Dickey.
Forget the movie (although it is a good movie). Dickey was a poet, and
Deliverance was his only novel. He has a fantastic gift for phrasing.

I haven't read it. The Godfather was terrific too, and I think
important in the development of American fiction, though I wouldn't
put Puzo in the "poet" category. Didn't they come out at about the
same time?

I also have a soft spot for short stories. Some of my favorite writers
in that form are Flannery O'Connor, John Updike and the aforementioned
Boyle.

Isaac Bashevis Singer and John Cheever too.

Since I've spent the first forty-odd years of my life reading
literature, I've tried to expand my horizons with more non-fiction
over the last few years.

The military history arena is where I primarily fill up on nonfiction.
I also just read biographies of Edison and Gerald R. Ford.

McCulloch's (sp?) "John Adams" was good too.

A great one military book I'd wager most US officers haven't read is
The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov.

It's kind of funny. I don't think I could possibly stop at three and
ScottW cannot come up with one.

I wonder if ScottW would ever consider joining a friendly discussion
on literature.

I seriously doubt it. Engineers generally aren't fiction readers.

But I didn't specify fiction. What do engineers read besides trade
magazines and journal articles?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

So, Scott, what do you say? Are you ready for some polite discussion,
or are you merely here to troll and fling mud?

[Jenn[_2_]]

In article
,
"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote:

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

So, Scott, what do you say? Are you ready for some polite discussion,
or are you merely here to troll and fling mud?

I offered the same in the past. He lasted about 2 posts before he
started slinging.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Apr 4, 4:05*pm, Jenn wrote:
In article
,
*"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote:

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:

What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

So, Scott, what do you say? Are you ready for some polite discussion,
or are you merely here to troll and fling mud?

I offered the same in the past. *He lasted about 2 posts before he
started slinging.

Scott is no hypocrite, of that we can be sure.

He has said so himself numerous times.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

What three books would you recommend as "must reads" to somebody?
(More than three is OK too.)

Here are several nice, polite discussion starters for you.

Still waiting.

Or do you admit that you're nothing more than a dull troll who cannot
offer any meaningful conversation? I'm OK with that outcome too.

[Boon[_2_]]

On Apr 20, 10:20*pm, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"
wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:18*am, "Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!"





wrote:
What was the last book you read? Did you like it? Why or why not? What
did you learn from it?

What book that you've read is your favorite? What did you learn from
it?

What was the last place you visited outside of the US? Did you like
it? Why or why not?

What book are you reading now?

Where haven't you been that you would most like to travel to outside
of the US? And within the US where haven't you been that you'd like to
go?

I like this question. I haven't traveled extensively outside of the US
yet, but I'm making plans to do so as we speak. I may be traveling to
Florence, Italy later this summer with a group of local visual
artists. So far I've made a couple of trips to Canada and Mexico and
that's it. I drove around the Toronto area a few years ago and found
the countryside absolutely beautiful. My list of foreign places to
visit are, in no particular order: Finnmark, Tasmania, Costa Rica,
Argentina, Barbados, Tahiti, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Scotland and
Ireland.

Within the US, I've been just about everywhere (46 states and
counting). Places I'd like to visit again: Outer Banks of North
Carolina (my favorite place in the world), Nashville, Bellingham WA,
Kauai, coastal Maine and this section of Northwestern Nebrasks where
there's sand dunes and grasslands for miles. I'm headed to NYC in a
few weeks, so I'm looking forward to that.