List your entire library here

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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:31 pm

barracuda wrote:
Stephen Morgan wrote:DH, as in your picture of the book of.


Dude, that's a picture of Lord Byron from the frontispiece of his complete works. You should have figured that out by the six letters above the portrait roundel, B-Y-R-O-N-S. Unless I've missed something, and he used to moonlight as DH Lawrence.


I may conceivably have been mistaken.

Presumably your books are wet, soppy, effete, not filled with honourable tales of derring-do.


They are somewhat limpid, as you may have ascertained by the water damage and foxing on the attachments I've posted here. But there are, mixed among the fopperies, a few moments of manly gusto - sort of as if my collection were the Scarlet Pimpernel of small personal libraries.


What is it exactly which makes you condemn my more intrepid tastes as dry?

But I'm sure you don't want to hear about my problems.


On the contrary, the travails of life in your part of the world of the mind make for fascinating readings at times. It's some of your opinions which I've found disagreeable. That can't be helped, I suppose.


You could always start agreeing with me, that might help.

Wouldn't be much fun, though. I believe in heuristics and dialectic and so forth: the emergence from ideological conflict of a position more finely tempered.

Meanwhile I'm glad my troubles amoose you.

I've got a family. One of my earliest memories is of being in the bath while my grandad tried to use a screwdriver to unscrew the lock. And I've got a relatively rich uncle, used to be in regular employment and everything, who won't act as a guarantor on a rental agreement because he's too worried about his credit. That sort of thing, you know. The usual. Still, there's one agreeable member of my family which is myself. MYself virtually brought me up single handed, you know, as my mother was mostly an alcoholic after she got out of that mental hospital, or perhaps ward.


You are a stalwart. Sorry to hear about the relatives. Mine aren't much better in some ways, though the immediate group is at least a cheerful bunch, always ready to mockingly come to each other's aid, as it ought be.


Well, I know people, you know. I know someone who works at the Conservative Club, so I'm only three degrees of seperation from the PM.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be, especially of books. Money I don't care too much about, if I don't get it back it don't worry me, but I wouldn't be lending people books.


Ah, but if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. Or whatever. Never really understood why you'd give away all your outergarments to then stand by and shiver righteously in the rain. Anyway.


You speak, my dear fellow, to a man with a legendary abhorrence for heat, a man who takes cold showers in the middle of winter with the window open in an unheated house, a man who finds hot weather deeply unpleasant, a man who cycles in the winter to the point of not being able to feel his hands for purposes of enjoyment, a man whose reaction to his last bout of sickness was to recouperate by wandering around the frozen streets and rubbing snow on those parts of his body not covered by his t-shirt and trousers, a man, in short, unfazed by the viccisitudes of rain and cold. I once read of a gang of Indian mystics huddled around some Himalayan lake where they would stand on the frozen surface in winter and cover themselves in wet towels, trying to dry them with their mystically sourced heat, and I just thought "what a load of pussies". Test of endurance? That's fun is that. Stick your yoga up your arse. The only time I remember feeling properly cold was when I ran out of money and went three days without eating. Had to wear my second choice shoes because I'd vomited stomach acid into the first choice ones. OF course I'd fasted longer for religious purposes, but that's different. Fasting and starving are different things.

Anyway, standing around shivering in the rain holds no terrors for me, so I'll be doing as jesus says. Bunch of thieving bastards round here anyway. Stole the pump off my bike.

Wonder Book Of The World's Progress, vol. IV - Inventions


I used to have a Wonder Book of Wales. Fairy stories and that.

The New Spirit, Havelock Ellis


Used to have a book about a bloke called Havelok the Dane. Supposedly founded Grimsby or summat.

Klingsors letzter Sommer, Hermann Hesse


Oh, read foreign, so we?

Greek Science, Benjamin Farrington


Used to have that. Well, a slightly battered paperback of Volume Two, anyway.

Differential and Integral Calculus, George Osbourne


Not the chancellor of the exchequer George Osbourne, I hope.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:40 pm

Stephen Morgan wrote:What is it exactly which makes you condemn my more intrepid tastes as dry?


It's just that I don't see much frivolity in the mix. It's not a requirement, but can't you have a bit more fun now and again? I do see a few titles which may be extraneous to all the seriousness that accompanies being Stephen Morgan: Tales of Hindu Devilry sounds like a juicy one. And Ancient Greek Athletics has got some sex appeal potential, I guess. The Whizzer and Chips annual maybe? Witchcraft in Britain, I'm sure that one is full of interesting stuff. You can always count on a book about witches and their persecution to contain some choice moments of violent grotesquerie. I cant recommend The Devil in Massachusetts enough. Well maybe I can. It's good though.

I'll admit there are quite a few of your books I simply don't recognize yet.

You could always start agreeing with me, that might help.

Wouldn't be much fun, though.


No, it wouldn't. But I'll agree with you on that particular point. Baby steps.

Well, I know people, you know. I know someone who works at the Conservative Club, so I'm only three degrees of seperation from the PM.


Connected, are we now? Got some pull with the hoity-toity? I'll have to be more careful.

You speak, my dear fellow, to a man with a legendary abhorrence for heat...


Oh, I have the cure for that. Spend five or ten winters in Chicago, or some other like latitude where the cold will actually kill you. I've seen people caught, staggering desperately down the skyscraper canyons, trying to find a cab or an open doorway to save their lives when the mercury sank to the neighborhood of -90° or so. Any exposed flesh at those temperatures dies within about five minutes. You just need to lose a finger or two to frostbite, or maybe the end of your nose, and you'll never complain about the heat again. It's California for me from now on. But I was born here, so I deserve to live here. Everyone who wasn't can get the fuck out.

OF course I'd fasted longer for religious purposes, but that's different. Fasting and starving are different things.


You fasted for religious purposes?? What (in the name of all that is holy) is or previously was your religion?

Bunch of thieving bastards round here anyway. Stole the pump off my bike.


Stealing bikes is among the lowest form of personal theft, and filching the pump off an errant downtube is just a fractional form of the original infraction. Are you familiar with Sharp's Bicycles and Tricycles? It's a comprehensive treatment of the entire subject published in 1896, when a bike was still called a wheel. Recommended. It's the only book in my collection which is stolen. I took it from the little lending library at the county jail. Funny how they search you on your way in, but not as you leave. I feel bad about it, but not bad enough to return it. It has sentimental value to me now. Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been twenty-seven years since my last confession, etc., etc. At least I'm contrite.

sharp.jpg


Used to have a book about a bloke called Havelok the Dane. Supposedly founded Grimsby or summat.


No, no, Havelock Ellis. Sexologist. Born in Croydon. He of the epic head of hair and beard. I should think his life story might appeal to you.

Oh, read foreign, so we?


Not really. I just pick at it like an itchy scab. Who can figure out the stupid German tenses, anyway? Just liked the cover.

Not the chancellor of the exchequer George Osbourne, I hope.


Nope. Published 1891. Here's the rest of the second shelf. Sorry if it seems my installments are increasing in brevity.


The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire, edited by Mathiel and Mathews
Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism, Silavanus Thompson
Urfaust, Goethe
Manual of Clinical Mycology, Norman F. Conant, et al
Art & Scientifc Thought, Martin Johnson, fwd. Walter de la Mare
The Art Spirit, Robert Henri
Communion, Whitley Streiber
A Field Guide to Western Birds, Roger Tory Peterson
Wittgenstein's Vienna, Janik & Toulmin
Painting for a Scientific Age, Rathbun & Hayes
Art of the Early World - Crete and Early Greece, Friedrich Matz
Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
A Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi
Secret Fighting Arts of the World, John F. Gilbey
Der Sprach Brockhaus, publisher Eberhard Brockhaus
The Real Book About Robots and Thinking Machines, Julian May
The Advanced Concepts of Poker, Frank R. Wallace
William Blake, James Daugherty
Six Tales of Mystery & Imagination, Edgar Allan Poe
The Teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Casteneda
The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire, edited by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Collecting Plastics, Jan Lindenberger
Famous Last Words, edited by Alan Bisbort
Marcel Proust: a biography, Richard H. Barker
Mother, Kathleen Norris
Cameras - Macchine Fotografiche, Prince R. de Croy-Roeulx
UFOs and the National Security State, vol. 1, Richard M. Dolan
Anxious Gravity, Jeff Wells
What To Expect - The Toddler Years, Eisenberg, Murkoff, and Hathaway
Selected Plays of George Bernard Shaw, Volumes 1, 2, and 3

The Shaw set seems to me to be a lot less discriminating than the title would suggest. You'd think you might be able to select the things down to a single volume.

By the way, I didn't see Jeff's book on your list, though my understanding was that he had sent you a copy. Did it already make its way to the recycle bin?
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:37 am

Made some headway on the third shelf down this evening...

Larousse Gastronomique, Auguste Escoffier and Phileas Gilbert
John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano
American Art at Mid Century, William C. Seitz
Sixty Centuries of Progress, vol. 2, Israel Smith Clare
The Lost Painting, Jonathan Harr
The World of Mathematics, vols. 1-4, James R. Newman
Smiley's People, John le Carre
Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, vol. 5, Arthur S. Maxwell
The Story of Photography, Alfred T. Story
Die Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst, Oscar Hocker
One Thousand Secrets of Rich and Wise Men Revealed, C.A. Bogardus
Swann's Way, Marcel Proust
The Compleat Strategyst, J.D. Williams
Hidden Images, Fred Leeman
Ear-Training and Sight-Singing, George A. Wedge
Park Guell - Gaudi's Utopia, Carandell & Vivas
El Templo De La Sagrada Familia, ibid
The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language, John Walker
The International Thesaurus of Quotations, Rhoda Thomas Tripp
Critique of Pure Reason, Kant
Compulsion and Doubt, vols. I - lll, Wilhelm Stekel
Imaginary Interviews, Andre Gide
Drinking, Smoking & Screwing, edited by Sara Nickles
Dealing With Cheats, A.D. Livingston
Arcana Coelestia, vol. I, Emanuel Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia, vol. IX, ibid
How To Win, Mike Goodman
The Challenge of Atomic Energy, E.H. Burhop
Lolita, Nabokov

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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:20 am

barracuda wrote:It's just that I don't see much frivolity in the mix. It's not a requirement, but can't you have a bit more fun now and again?


What people generally consider fun seems largely pointless and often unpleasant to me.

I do see a few titles which may be extraneous to all the seriousness that accompanies being Stephen Morgan: Tales of Hindu Devilry sounds like a juicy one.


Next of the pile of books to read. An Indian version of the Decameron, according to the blurb. Gilbert Without Sullivan is by the Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, a compilation of his humourous short stories. A poor quality author is criticised by his characters, a priest's well intentioned love-potion experiment goes wrong, and so on. Are You Dave Gorman is very funny. There's a certain amount of rather vulgar humour to be had in the Golden Ass of Apuleius. Charles Fort was always good for a laugh. And the bit in Fast Food Nation where someone falls into a lard grinder and gets shipped out to be eaten by consumers is grimly ironic.

And Ancient Greek Athletics has got some sex appeal potential, I guess.


Only for the homo sexuals, I fear. Possibly also paedophiles and the lovers of horses.

The Whizzer and Chips annual maybe?


Just gave that away, actually. Always did prefer Buster. Never liked the Dandy, though. Had lots of comics when I was a kid.

Witchcraft in Britain, I'm sure that one is full of interesting stuff. You can always count on a book about witches and their persecution to contain some choice moments of violent grotesquerie. I cant recommend The Devil in Massachusetts enough. Well maybe I can. It's good though.


Yes, as you see I have a number of related books. Montague Summers books, Lewis Spence, the above book by Christina Hole.

I'll admit there are quite a few of your books I simply don't recognize yet.


Well I have an eclectic range of interests.

Connected, are we now? Got some pull with the hoity-toity? I'll have to be more careful.


Very unpleasant, apparently, the Tories. From what I hear they've pretty much exactly how I would imagine the denizens of the Conservative Club to be.

You speak, my dear fellow, to a man with a legendary abhorrence for heat...


Oh, I have the cure for that. Spend five or ten winters in Chicago, or some other like latitude where the cold will actually kill you. I've seen people caught, staggering desperately down the skyscraper canyons, trying to find a cab or an open doorway to save their lives when the mercury sank to the neighborhood of -90° or so. Any exposed flesh at those temperatures dies within about five minutes. You just need to lose a finger or two to frostbite, or maybe the end of your nose, and you'll never complain about the heat again. It's California for me from now on. But I was born here, so I deserve to live here. Everyone who wasn't can get the fuck out.


Wait until you've wandered through the desert, corneas peeling from the sandy snow blindness, skin burned and potentially cancerous, body dehydrated, brain delirious, loss of appetite, slight headache, etc., then you'll never complain about the cold again. Or go to Skegness in August, see all the plump and pink humans wallowing in the sun and the sand and that, very unpleasant. Chips aren't no good in Skeggy either.

OF course I'd fasted longer for religious purposes, but that's different. Fasting and starving are different things.


You fasted for religious purposes?? What (in the name of all that is holy) is or previously was your religion?


I'm a Christian of the Biblical literalist persuasion.

Bunch of thieving bastards round here anyway. Stole the pump off my bike.


Stealing bikes is among the lowest form of personal theft, and filching the pump off an errant downtube is just a fractional form of the original infraction. Are you familiar with Sharp's Bicycles and Tricycles? It's a comprehensive treatment of the entire subject published in 1896, when a bike was still called a wheel. Recommended. It's the only book in my collection which is stolen. I took it from the little lending library at the county jail. Funny how they search you on your way in, but not as you leave. I feel bad about it, but not bad enough to return it. It has sentimental value to me now. Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been twenty-seven years since my last confession, etc., etc. At least I'm contrite.


I was an accessory to an act of theft once. A bank holiday monday, it was, myself and a school friend, at the time (he's since, according to the local paper, been incarcerated for attempted murder having smashed in the head of a local man he mistakenly thought to be Polish) one of my associates who was intent upon making off with the pogs which were then to be found in multipacks of pre-packaged snack delights. He got dragged off by the police for that too. I, on the other hand, escaped notice being by nature a sneaky and cunning individual.

Used to have a book about a bloke called Havelok the Dane. Supposedly founded Grimsby or summat.


No, no, Havelock Ellis. Sexologist. Born in Croydon. He of the epic head of hair and beard. I should think his life story might appeal to you.


I don't like sexologists, with their covert attempts to push licentiousness upon the people. Nor people from Croydon, with their effete Southern ways. I do, however, appreciate a fellow beard wearer and forswearer of the cutting of hair.

The Shaw set seems to me to be a lot less discriminating than the title would suggest. You'd think you might be able to select the things down to a single volume.


Two copies of "The Flowers of Evil", two of "Lolita" and two of "UFO's and the National Security State, vol. 1".

Don't go lecturing about selectiveness.

By the way, I didn't see Jeff's book on your list, though my understanding was that he had sent you a copy. Did it already make its way to the recycle bin?


He not only sent me a copy, he sent me a signed copy with a very nice message thanking me for my contributions to the forum. Nor do I dispose of my books to be pulped and turned into insulation material or part of a copy of the Guardian, I rather gavve the book away, as I often do. Read it first, of course.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:47 pm

Stephen Morgan wrote:Two copies of "The Flowers of Evil", two of "Lolita" and two of "UFO's and the National Security State, vol. 1".

Don't go lecturing about selectiveness.


Wait a minute there, now - I have only listed one copy of Lolita, though I'd have to admit to having owned perhaps six or seven different editions during the course of my interest in the book, but never more than one at a throw. The Dolan UFO books are volumes one and two, I haven't duplicated on that account, either. The Flowers of Evil, well that's another matter altogether. I've had the Edna St. Vincent Millay translation for many years, as her forward to the book probably makes it worth owning the thing all by itself. But I do not read french (at least without a dictionary or grammar at hand), and translations being what they are, it's best to occasionally compare notes between interpreters of the original text. And so, I do have another version, in paperback, which I sometimes consult when there's an issue with a word or phrase that seems clumsier than I expect to be hearing from a thinker as original and brilliant as Baudelaire.
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:54 pm

Stephen Morgan wrote:What people generally consider fun seems largely pointless and often unpleasant to me.


I see. Not quite the ice cream and party hat type, I venture.

Only for the homo sexuals, I fear. Possibly also paedophiles and the lovers of horses.


Well I never.

I'm a Christian of the Biblical literalist persuasion.


I see.

I, on the other hand, escaped notice being by nature a sneaky and cunning individual.


I've noticed these qualities are often found in Christians, among others. Other peoples, I mean.

I do, however, appreciate a fellow beard wearer and forswearer of the cutting of hair.


I am in the process of growing my hair again, though I don't really know how long I'll be able to stick it out. It seems more difficult as I get older, though I don't see how that could be the case, as it's one of the few accomplishments which is accomplished by a lack of any action at all.

I put some time in on the beginning of the fourth shelf yesterday. I do believe I'm nearing the halfway point for the living room.

I.C.S. Reference Library - Dynamos, Motors, Dynamo-Electrical Machinery, & Mechanical Drawing
The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, Eric Fromm
Bently & egg, William Joyce
Illustrated Antique American Motorcycle Buyer's Guide, Jerry Hatfield
Robots Robots Robots, Harry M. Geduld and Ronald Gottesman
The Treasure Hunter, Robin Moore and Howard Jennings
The Wars of Napoleon, Albert Sidney Britt III
Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific Coast, edited by Bob Thompson
Sculpture in Plastics, Nicholas Roukes
Metaphors on Vision, Stan Brakhage
Atlas Catalogue of Obsolete Plymouth Parts
Vuillard, Claude Roger-Marx
Architechtural Design, Ernest Pickering
Twentieth Century Fashionable Plastic Jewelry, Lillian Baker
The Artist the Book and the Child, Deborah Gangloff
Mackie 1202-VLZ 12-Channel Mic/Line Mixer Owner's Manual
An Autobiographical Monologue Scenario, Buckminster Fuller
Basic Anatomy and Physiology, H.G.Q. Rowett
A Testament, Frank Lloyd Wright
When Democracy Builds, Ibid
Barnstormers and Speed Kings, Paul O'Neil
The Brain and Spinal Cord, Dr. Emil Villiger
Giuseppe Archimboldo, Benedikt Taschen
Monsters and Madonnas, William Mortensen
Pabco Floor Covering Patterns for 1952
Yves Klein - A Retrospective, Dominique De Menil
The Occult in Art, Fred Gettings
Étant donnés - Reflections on a New Work by Marcel Duchamp, Anne D'Harnoncourt and Walter Hopps
The Crowley Tarot, Hajo Banzhaf and Akron
Fred G. Johnson Sideshow Banners, Deborah Duez Donato
The Disasters of War, Francisco Goya
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Albert Pike

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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:08 am

dore.jpg


The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, illustrated by Gustave Doré
Geschichte der erotischen Kunst: Das zeitgeschichtliche Problem, Eduard Fuchs
Geschichte der erotischen Kunst: Das individuelle Problem, ibid
Performance, Live Art 1909 to the Present, RoseLee Goldberg
Passages in Modren Sculpture, Rosalind E. Krauss
The Education of a Poker Player, Herbert O. Yardley
The Gambler's Bedside Book, edited by John K. Hutchens
Here Comes the Circus, Peter Verney
The Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Dean's A Book of Fairy Tales
The Encyclopedia of Collectibles, B - C, Time-Life
The Encyclopedia of Collectibles, C- D, Time-Life
Armstrong's Linowall Pattern Book for 1940
The Animator's Workbook, Tony White
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol III, Richard Feynman
Introduction to Stained Glass, Wardell & Huffman
Decks, Walter Ian Fischman
Performance by Artists, edited by AA Bronson & Peggy Gale
The Later Work of Aubrey Beardsley
The Family of Man, Edward Steichen
The Evolution of the Bicycle, edited by Neil S. Wood
The Bicycle, Pryor Dodge
Wonders of the Past, edited by J.A. Hammerton
The Guitar, Kozinn/Welding/Forte/Santoro
Extinction, Steven M. Stanley
Manual of Instructions for Marcel Duchamp's Étant donnés
The American Bicycle, Pridmore and Hurd
Motorcycles and Bicycles, Sotheby's catalogue
Classic Motorcycles, Mark Gardiner

...and that pretty much winds up the fourth shelf. Onward and downward!
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Hammer of Los » Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:46 am

You two are funny together. You make a great double act.

Stephen Morgan wrote:I'm a Christian of the Biblical literalist persuasion.


Not one of the proto-buddhist, neo taoist crew then? Oh well, at least you're not a Satanist, so that's a relief. Although personally I do admit of a slight Luciferic tendency, but that's another story.

I have maybe 750 books or so, at a quick estimate, here in my home, half of which perhaps are my other half's. My mother and my aunt's properties have a lot more of my books also. The poor dears, still looking after them.

Scanning Barracuda's list, I noted that the only two I have out of your list are Communion by Whitley Strieber, and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. UFO's and philosophy. Sheesh. Oh yeah, and The Watchmen.

I used to love looking in the philosophy and religion sections of old second hand bookstores. That was before the internet, when I used to buy books.

The last book I received was a present, "The Marvel Encyclopedia." Man, I sure do love those superheroes! Even if they were just veiled propaganda for cold war human experimentation, enhancement and mind control programs. When I was learning to read, my staple diet was the cod shakespearean dialogue of Stan Lee et al. When I was about six I used to talk like the Silver Surfer, Thor or Doctor Doom. That's probably why I still sound a little pompous to this day! It's Lee and Kirby's fault, although my favourite was always Ditko.
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:56 am

barracuda wrote:I see. Not quite the ice cream and party hat type, I venture.


With the people and the noise and the sensitive teeth? No thank you.

Only for the homo sexuals, I fear. Possibly also paedophiles and the lovers of horses.


Well I never.


And music lovers, as the Greek games often had musical and oratorical competitions as well as naked men and horses. And youth categories, also naked. Olympia itself was all athletic pursuits, not musical, although the first competitions of the games were trumpet blowing and shouting so as to recruit a herald and announcer for the later events.

I do, however, appreciate a fellow beard wearer and forswearer of the cutting of hair.


I am in the process of growing my hair again, though I don't really know how long I'll be able to stick it out. It seems more difficult as I get older, though I don't see how that could be the case, as it's one of the few accomplishments which is accomplished by a lack of any action at all.


I haven't cut mine in many years. In fact, given that individual hairs only last so long I'd say not a hair on my body has ever felt a blade.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:02 pm

Hammer of Los wrote:You two are funny together. You make a great double act.


Many a true word is spoken in jest.

Stephen Morgan wrote:I'm a Christian of the Biblical literalist persuasion.


Not one of the proto-buddhist, neo taoist crew then? Oh well, at least you're not a Satanist, so that's a relief. Although personally I do admit of a slight Luciferic tendency, but that's another story.


I've always thought it would be nice to be the one acting as the defence brief for the devil at the end of time. Not in a Neil Warnock way, either. He was managing Sheffield United, as he did for many years, when he was asked if he'd ever manage Sheffield Wednesday and he said he would, he'd get them relegated then retire laughing. Alarmingly Wednesday actually hired him at one point, after he said that.

The last book I received was a present, "The Marvel Encyclopedia." Man, I sure do love those superheroes! Even if they were just veiled propaganda for cold war human experimentation, enhancement and mind control programs. When I was learning to read, my staple diet was the cod shakespearean dialogue of Stan Lee et al. When I was about six I used to talk like the Silver Surfer, Thor or Doctor Doom. That's probably why I still sound a little pompous to this day! It's Lee and Kirby's fault, although my favourite was always Ditko.


Considering the impact language has on thought this may well have been unwise. Personally I prefer comics to be comical, or did when I was young.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:32 pm

Stephen Morgan wrote:With the people


That one was not unexpected, I guess.

and the noise


Umm hmmm, shy and retiring.

and the sensitive teeth?


A true Englander. I guess the bark really is worse than the bite.

And music lovers, as the Greek games often had musical and oratorical competitions as well as naked men and horses. And youth categories, also naked. Olympia itself was all athletic pursuits, not musical, although the first competitions of the games were trumpet blowing and shouting so as to recruit a herald and announcer for the later events.


I'd say the world could use a great more naked persons playing trumpets and shouting right about now. I know I'd attend.

I haven't cut mine in many years. In fact, given that individual hairs only last so long I'd say not a hair on my body has ever felt a blade.


I am actually an excellent barber, should you ever need such services. I could deliver you the standard R.I. cut, a modified mullet with a false flag in the back. I've attended to the cutting of my own hair for over twenty years now, as well as that of many of my friends and acquaintances when the need arises without the accompanying funding. Though when I was your age, I had hair down to the middle of my back. I was famous for it, as it proceeded from my head straight and shiny as a groomed horsetail only to begin waving and curling at about chin length, and culminating in a morass of perfectly formed spiraling ringlets of a roughly an inch in diameter. It never did show any sign of stopping. If I had never cut my hair it would have grown to the floor and beyond.

Hammer of Los wrote:You two are funny together. You make a great double act.


Fine, but I get top billing. I can see it up in lights, "Cuda The Great, and good ol' What's-his-Name", renown for performing with a trained retinue of withering sneers.

Scanning Barracuda's list, I noted that the only two I have out of your list are Communion by Whitley Strieber, and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. UFO's and philosophy. Sheesh. Oh yeah, and The Watchmen.


There's apparently a lot of books in the world. Even Stephen's and Montag's list don't overlap much, yet they both seem to have somewhat similar tastes in either reading or doorstops.
The most dangerous traps are the ones you set for yourself. - Phillip Marlowe
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:06 pm

barracuda wrote:
Stephen Morgan wrote:With the people


That one was not unexpected, I guess.


In my knowledge of the lingo there are no words sufficient to express the extent of my visceral revulsion at finding myself in a crowd of people. I went to an Open University tutorial yesterday and left about halfway through, I just couldn't stand being in this room with about twenty people, all talking and going on. People is the only thing that fazes me. I have little regard for illness or physical pain, or cold or rain, or dirt or discomfort, or of physical exertion, although I admit an abhorrence for uncomfortable shoes. But all those people are a different matter. As African warriors inure themselves to pain by cutting into their skin I've tried to toughen myself to the presence of people, but it's not an easy thing. I was very glad to get back out into the darkness.

and the noise


Umm hmmm, shy and retiring.


Reticent, dear. Diffident. Very sensitive. Literally speaking, very good hearing, very good eye sight, very bad at temperatures. Fine in the dark, walking by moonlight, totally blinded by bright sunshine. Not at all fond of loud noises, not at all. Or loud people. Or the hubbub of a crowd, terrible.

and the sensitive teeth?


A true Englander. I guess the bark really is worse than the bite.


Ice has no nutritional value, unlike cream which I approve of.

I am actually an excellent barber, should you ever need such services. I could deliver you the standard R.I. cut, a modified mullet with a false flag in the back. I've attended to the cutting of my own hair for over twenty years now, as well as that of many of my friends and acquaintances when the need arises without the accompanying funding. Though when I was your age, I had hair down to the middle of my back. I was famous for it, as it proceeded from my head straight and shiny as a groomed horsetail only to begin waving and curling at about chin length, and culminating in a morass of perfectly formed spiraling ringlets of a roughly an inch in diameter. It never did show any sign of stopping. If I had never cut my hair it would have grown to the floor and beyond.


Hair doesn't grow that long. Once it hits your arse it falls out, take it from me.

But if you want to cut my hair, I'd be glad to greet you at the airport, you could cut it in the departure lounge then set off back across the Atlantic.

Hammer of Los wrote:You two are funny together. You make a great double act.


Fine, but I get top billing. I can see it up in lights, "Cuda The Great, and good ol' What's-his-Name", renown for performing with a trained retinue of withering sneers.


You can have the glory if I can have the cash.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby §ê¢rꆧ » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:37 pm

Hammer of Los wrote:You two are funny together. You make a great double act.


I was just about to say how funny this thread is... in a very loung-y sort of way. Or like woody allen comedic dialog, or something. It's great, keep it up.

barracuda wrote:Many a true word is spoken in jest.


somebody here I think but I cant remember who - probably it was barracuda come to think, or maybe brainpanhandler wrote:Most of the time when people are joking, they're usually dead serious, and when they're dead serious, it's usually pretty funny. So, actually, anything you say means exactly what you say and its opposite.


I have so few treeware books since the great migration west, it's a shame I had to give them up. I'd like to see pictures of people's bookcases, I think that would be fun. Maybe I'll post mine, but again it is so small as to be pathetic. All the books I read now are ebooks or library books.
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Re: List your entire library here

Postby barracuda » Wed Oct 13, 2010 12:49 am

Stephen Morgan wrote:In my knowledge of the lingo there are no words sufficient to express the extent of my visceral revulsion at finding myself in a crowd of people.


Well, Stephen, liking people is commonly related to liking one's self, if I may offer some pocketbook psychology. Let's see - unemployed socialist, dislikes people, never cuts the hair, lives comfortably in arctic climes... I knew it - you're a yeti!

Reticent, dear. Diffident. Very sensitive. Literally speaking, very good hearing, very good eye sight, very bad at temperatures. Fine in the dark, walking by moonlight, totally blinded by bright sunshine. Not at all fond of loud noises, not at all. Or loud people. Or the hubbub of a crowd, terrible.


I wonder, where did you acquire the baffling affectation of affixing the endearment onto your more patronizing statements? Not that I find it offensive in any way, it just seems outside of the whole carefully-drawn ice-ogre character sometimes, such as the times when you find yourself addressing a fully grown male. It's a rather petite contrivance.

Hair doesn't grow that long.


Of course it does. It depends entirely upon the person - genetics, diet, grooming habits, etc. My sister had hair down to her knees when she was younger.

But if you want to cut my hair, I'd be glad to greet you at the airport, you could cut it in the departure lounge then set off back across the Atlantic.


I dunno. My pinking shears might not pass the checkpoints of the various agencies entrusted with the task of maintaining the safety of postmodern air travel by guaranteeing an absence of cutting implements on board through every technological means at their avail. I suppose I could use a random butter knife from a food kiosk or a Bic shaver, but the result might not be optimal. I just can't work under these conditions.

You can have the glory if I can have the cash.


Are you kidding? You haven't gotten any royalty checks yet? Jeff assured me that he'd see to it that you got your half. Hmm.

§ê¢rꆧ wrote:Maybe I'll post mine, but again it is so small as to be pathetic.


You've revealed one of the limitations of the parameters here. Still, a collection can consist of but a single example, especially if it's a great one.

Here are some random books I had to move out of the way to secure a viewport through to the bottom shelf, mostly oversize, or reaching the state of superfluousness:

Birds of California Field Guide, Stan Tekeilo
Scarne on Cards, John Scarne
The Book of Genesis Illustrated, Robert Crumb
Gumball Machines - Right or Wrong?, Abraham Vander Vlist
The Astonishing Hypothesis, Francis Crick
Making and Selling Your Own CDs & Cassettes, Jana Stanfield
The Art of Response Drawing, Nathan Goldstein
Jack the Ripper - Letters From Hell, Stewart P. Evans & Keith Skinner
Great Collector Cars, Gianni Rogliatti
THe New International Illustrated Encyclopedia of Art, vol I
THe Art of Painting on Silk, Pam Dawson
Twentieth Century Dolls, Johana Gast Anderton
The Doll, Carl Fox
Design Since 1945, Philidelphia Museum of Art
Decorating With Art at Home, Judith Gura
Topiary and the Art of Training Plants, David Joyce
The Lost Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Hugh F. McKean
The Painter Joaquin Sorolla, Edmund Peel
Gerhard Richter - A Private Collection, CAC Malaga
The New American Tapestry, Ruth Kaufman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson
The Carousel Animal, Tobin Fraley
The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, 3rd ed.
1-2-3 Magic, Thomas W. Phelan
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Version
The Encyclopedia of Oil Painting Techniques, Jeremy Galton
Vineland, Thomas Pynchon
Collins Atlas of the World
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

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Re: List your entire library here

Postby Stephen Morgan » Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:04 pm

barracuda wrote:Well, Stephen, liking people is commonly related to liking one's self, if I may offer some pocketbook psychology.


You may not. Back when I was young I was coerced by the powers that be into be therapised. Didn't like it at all. A few years ago, when I was sent on the government's New Deal scheme for the young and unemployed I overheard a rather vulgar conversation in which someone else who had also been therapised by the same psycho-logist was talking about how he had got himself kicked out of her therapising facility. I just didn't go back. One for the non-violent resistance, me.

Let's see - unemployed socialist, dislikes people, never cuts the hair, lives comfortably in arctic climes... I knew it - you're a yeti!


Everyone knows yetis, which is an imperialist and colonialist and racially offensive name for the almasty people, are libertarians. Besides, they hibernate, don't they? They're as nesh as you.

I wonder, where did you acquire the baffling affectation of affixing the endearment onto your more patronizing statements? Not that I find it offensive in any way, it just seems outside of the whole carefully-drawn ice-ogre character sometimes, such as the times when you find yourself addressing a fully grown male. It's a rather petite contrivance.


It's probably indicative of some major psychological defect. It's just meant to construe my long-suffering exasperation. It only seems to have come into effect since I started posting on this board, judging by a cursory examination of the previous decade's Usenet postings. Otherwise I generally post as I speak, but having excised the dialect terms and with quite a lot of letters which would be dropped were I to type phonetically. Very thick regional accent normally, me.

And what does petite mean? In this context?

Hair doesn't grow that long.


Of course it does. It depends entirely upon the person - genetics, diet, grooming habits, etc. My sister had hair down to her knees when she was younger.


I'm telling you, it doesn't. After a certain length of time it falls out and is replaced by a new hair.

I dunno. My pinking shears might not pass the checkpoints of the various agencies entrusted with the task of maintaining the safety of postmodern air travel by guaranteeing an absence of cutting implements on board through every technological means at their avail. I suppose I could use a random butter knife from a food kiosk or a Bic shaver, but the result might not be optimal. I just can't work under these conditions.


I actually own a pair of hair cutting scissors. Which I use to cut my nails. Occasionally sellotape or the packaging of bacon.

You can have the glory if I can have the cash.


Are you kidding? You haven't gotten any royalty checks yet? Jeff assured me that he'd see to it that you got your half. Hmm.


Luckily I don't generally whore myself for cash. The love of money being the root of all evil and that.

§ê¢rꆧ wrote:
barracuda wrote:Many a true word is spoken in jest.


Was me that said that! Well, got it from Chaucer, or someone along those lines, but wasn't barry.

somebody here I think but I cant remember who - probably it was barracuda come to think, or maybe brainpanhandler wrote:Most of the time when people are joking, they're usually dead serious, and when they're dead serious, it's usually pretty funny. So, actually, anything you say means exactly what you say and its opposite.


That is generally how I operate.
Last edited by Stephen Morgan on Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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