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QC Forum Book Group - Nominations for Book #2

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Damnable Fiend:
oh, well nevermind that then.

Scandanavian War Machine:
oh oh oh you guys just reminded me that I actually have an awesome book to recommend!

I forgot all about it! It's called To Ruhleben -- And Back and it's by Geoffrey Pyke, who was an absolutely fascinating man. He "invented" a stronger type of ice by mixing in wood pulp and he, along with the help of some government or another, tried to engineer a giant, unsinkable aircraft carrier out of the stuff, dubbed "Pykrete."

Obviously, the project was a failure.

This particular book (which can be found for cheap on Amazon, btw) tells a story from his younger days (before WWII and "pykrete") when he snuck into a warzone, was captured and put in an internment camp, and subsequently escaped somehow.

It's a freaking great book about an awesome historical figure who usually goes overlooked. Highly recommended.

KharBevNor:

--- Quote from: Johnny C on 13 May 2010, 13:20 ---actually you used a semicolon with a conjunction which is a totally improper usage of it, but my point was that the rhythm of the paragraph is all stilted now instead of having the languid eloquence that it had previously

--- End quote ---

It didn't have a languid eloquence, it sounded like the dude was droning it out without breathing like some gregorian chant or maybe like some kid at school who doesn't want to read out loud, you know? Long, running unpunctuated sentences work for like, streams of consciousness and shit, but punctuation is where you breath, so without punctuation a sentence cannot but help sound breathless.

Also it is perfectly ok gramatically to put a semi-colon before a conjunction, you faggot.

Johnny C:
why yes that paragraph is exhausting and breathtaking

also holy shit the pykrete guy

Inlander:

--- Quote from: Jeans on 14 May 2010, 09:12 ---Another author that gets a lot of praise round these parts, but that nobody seems to discuss a lot, is Bill Bryson!

--- End quote ---

I think we should learn from our experience with Stieg Larsson: as little as we found to discuss in his work, I think there's probably even less to discuss in a Bryson book. I mean sure it's going to be a fun read, but then what? "Hey those English, they sure are amusing folks." Bryson is primarily a light entertainment writer; we may as well try doing a deep anaylsis of a Michael Parkinson interview.

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