From: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org (eda-thoughts-digest) To: eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Subject: eda-thoughts-digest V1 #201 Reply-To: eda-thoughts@smoe.org Sender: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk eda-thoughts-digest Friday, September 18 1998 Volume 01 : Number 201 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe, send an email to * eda-thoughts-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY * the word unsubscribe in the body of the email * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: eda-thoughts-digest V1 #xxx or the like gives readers no clue * as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- ET: remember that english project??? [CLEARVVATR@aol.com] ET: Re: remember that english project??? ["Kevin Pease" Subject: ET: Re: remember that english project??? >> Jen writes: >well, there it is folks. THANKS SO MUCH for your help. i would've freaked out >and chose some god awful hard writer if you guys hadn't been there to help me. >hmmm...then again, perhaps vonnegut is difficult as well. Nah... I wouldn't sweat it too much. Vonnegut is pretty easy, & enjoyable, to read. I think you'll like him. If you really hate him, and you can convince your teacher to let you change authors (or if you're just looking for some good reading in your spare time... :), you could always try John Irving, too. Some of Irving's books include: A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, Cider House Rules, 158-Pound Marriage, The Water Method Man, Setting Free The Bears, A Son Of The Circus... there's more, too, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head... He's written plenty of books, though. I enjoyed the first three listed above a lot, the other ones by him also had their moments. ... I forgot to mention him in my first list of suggestions, but he's definitely good. Incidentally, that movie "Simon Birch" which is coming out soon, is based on A Prayer For Owen Meany, but from what I've heard, it doesn't do the book justice... Anyway, it's another suggestion... even if you don't read it for class, you (and anybody else on here looking for a good book... :) might enjoy reading some of his stuff in your spare time. >the next assignment concerning this project is to choose a book by this Friday. >anyone got any suggestions on what i should start out with. I'd recommend Cat's Cradle to start off... it's interesting, not too long (~200 pages, if I recall correctly), and pretty amusing, as well. For future reference... of his books, I've read the following, and found them all to be good reading: - Sirens Of Titan - Player Piano (had to analyze this up and down and inside out for a class in college... sort of ruined the enjoyment, but it was still a good read. :) - Cat's Cradle - Slaughterhouse Five (I think back in high school... not positive on this one, and I don't remember much about the storyline, but I think I've read & liked it at some point. :) I don't know if anybody else out there has read any of his other books (he's got a bunch...), but I'd certainly consider those 4 to be worth reading. Anybody else got ideas on which Vonnegut books she might enjoy? Kevin - ---------- Kevin Pease kbpease@boston.crosswinds.net (ICQ UIN: 3106063) (AOL Instant Messenger: kbpease) http://www.crosswinds.net/boston/~kbpease "I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve, I have a history of taking off my shirt..." ---(Barenaked Ladies, "One Week")--- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 12:45:11 -0500 From: sesykes@juno.com (SES Pool) Subject: ET: ANWA Did you guys know that ANWA is still on the charts at number 11? cool huh? ** Scott S.** -Big Sexy Angel "WHY DO YOU JUDGE ME, YOU'RE NOT MY PEERS YOU AINT LOVED ME FOR YEARS!" -Tupac Shakur R.I.P _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 12:49:34 -0500 From: sesykes@juno.com (SES Pool) Subject: ET: i won Hey Angels, I just wanted to a little story real quick. I was singing in a state wide talent contest and i was singing Amen (my special remixed version) and i won big time!!! I won $500. There's another one next week and i'm gonna do Pieces of You or Angel Standing by. Since i'm a guy i had to change it up a little bit. ** Scott S.** -Big Sexy Angel "WHY DO YOU JUDGE ME, YOU'RE NOT MY PEERS YOU AINT LOVED ME FOR YEARS!" -Tupac Shakur R.I.P _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: 17 Sep 98 16:20:48 EDT From: genben@usa.net Subject: Re: [ET: Re: remember that english project???] >the next assignment concerning this project is to choose a book by this Friday. >anyone got any suggestions on what i should start out with. I thini it's unfortunate that Kevin didn't enjoy 'Player Piano,' because that is my favorite of all his books. In fact, It's one of my recommended books at the bookstore I work at. Also, his newest 'Timequake,' is pretty interesting. I back up Kevin on 'Cat's Cradle.' That is a great book. I think that 'Player Piano' is my strongest recommendation, though. I send this to the list, because I think we should all read it. It is a fascinating look by one of America's premier writers at the path we are headed down by basing too much of our lives on machines, and the book was written in 1952, WAY before computers and all that, so the perspective is interesting. Oh, Yeah. 'Mother Night' is also really good. Ben ____________________________________________________________________ Get free e-mail and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 17:05:13 -0400 From: "Kevin Pease" Subject: Re: [ET: Re: remember that english project???] >> Ben writes: >I think it's unfortunate that Kevin didn't enjoy 'Player Piano,' because that >is my favorite of all his books. [...] Just to clarify, as it seems I may have given the wrong impression... It's not that I didn't enjoy Player Piano... but we spent a whole term in a class basically over-analyzing the book, which sort of killed some the enjoyment factor... I liked Sirens of Titan & Cat's Cradle more, I think, because I read those on my own, and didn't have to sit there and listen to a professor tell me what the "right" interpretation of the book was. I certainly didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't think Player Piano was good though, as it was a very good book... I enjoyed the reading, just not the subsequent 7 or 8 painful weeks of "analysis." It *was* an extremely interesting (and appropriate, in my opinion) choice of books for an engineering school, though - I think it shocked & upset some of the die-hard techies in the class... :) Kevin - ---------- Kevin Pease kbpease@boston.crosswinds.net (ICQ UIN: 3106063) (AOL Instant Messenger: kbpease) http://www.crosswinds.net/boston/~kbpease "I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve, I have a history of taking off my shirt..." ---(Barenaked Ladies, "One Week")--- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 01:44:15 +0200 From: Cris Eichler Subject: Re: [ET: Re: remember that english project???] Hi all, gun> It is a fascinating look by one of gun> America's premier writers at the path we are headed down by basing too much of gun> our lives on machines, and the book was written in 1952, WAY before computers gun> and all that, so the perspective is interesting. And this message was brought to you via Email..... See Alanis, THAT'S ironic..... Cheers ! Cris ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 23:55:27 -0400 From: "Kevin Pease" Subject: Re: [Re: [ET: Re: remember that english project???]] >>Ben writes: >Phwew! You had me worried there! I thought that you would have enjoyed it, as >an engineer, and that's why I was confused. I'm glad you do like it, and I >hope you realize thedanger of automation. Definitely. I think I was just about the only person in the class who saw any problem with the increasing automation & "computerization" of everything these days... it has a lot of good potential, but it also has a lot of potential for misuse. A lot of the people in the class were like, "But technology is GOOD! It's making our lives easier, and more fun!", which is true, to an extent, but not *completely* true - "paperless office", my ass. :) Probably 80% of the class had never even tried to think of *any* technological advance not being completely good for society, and it showed... that's what I mean when I said "it shocked & disturbed"... they definitely didn't like it. :) >Don't you feel that it is >interesting that the book was written so long ago, though? I wonder what >Vonnegut would do differently if he were to write the same stiory today. I >would guess that Paul Proteus would probably be a programmer >(although the aliteration is maddening). Definitely... I was really surprised to see that it was written so long ago, and I thought it was interesting to see how much technology has 'taken over' our day-to-day lives, like Vonnegut imagined writing the book... I'd imagine Proteus would have been somehow related to the computer industry in a current re-write of the book, since it is pretty much the most visible tech-related job around these days... Kevin ------------------------------ End of eda-thoughts-digest V1 #201 **********************************