HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fgn@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (frank.g.neves)
Subject: Re: Why I am thrilled with the QPBC
Summary: QPBC vs. BOMC
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 11:42:13 GMT

In article <9211181716.AA06634@cfdev1.shearson.com>, mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
> joan@med.unc.edu (Joan Shields) writes:
> > mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
> >> I just received three books from the Quality Paperback Book Club.  I am
> >> absolutely THRILLED about receiving one of them.
> >> But the one that really thrills me is called WHY DO DOGS HAVE WET NOSES?
>  
> I've found out that this is one of a series of books.
> One of the other books is called WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY.
>  
> The best part of it is that there is an address in the book, where
> people can write with their questions.  Now whenever my father asks
> one of THOSE questions, I can tell him to send the question to them
> (at least I can tell him that if I can stop laughing).
>  
> Mark
>  
Since you've mentioned the QPBC, I'd like to add the following.
I've belonged to both the QPBC and the BOMC for quite a few years.
Something which has happened on more than a few occasions is that I'll get
my BOMC mailing, see a book(s) which I'd like to buy, but am hesitant
because of the price.

Lo and behold, my QPBC mailing shows up, and there is the self-same book
in the oversized softcover edition for about half the price of the BOMC
version.  I love when that happens...

Frank 
-- 
*************************************************************************
 Frank G. Neves, R.Hy.                   | "Immanetize the Eschaton..."
 Discl: No wife, no horse, no moustache  |    "Credo Quia Absurdum"
*************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: gsmith@lauren.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de (Gene W. Smith)
Subject: Re: good novels about gay lifestyle
Organization: IWR, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 15:27:02 GMT

In article <1ehbapINNp65@agate.berkeley.edu>
srubio@garnet.berkeley.edu (Steven Rubio) writes:

>I second the recommendation of Rita Mae Brown.  

She's good.

>I just finished teaching _Dancer_From_the_Dance by Andrew Holleran.

Oh barf.  Why not Leavitt or McCauley or Moddren or even (for the
humor) Keenan?

If that is too New York (a feeling I sometimes get with gay literature)
you could try Maupin, I suppose.

-- 
     Gene Ward Smith/Brahms Gang/IWR/Ruprecht-Karls University 
               gsmith@kalliope.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de
From: jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Accuracy in autobiography (was: GENIUS: Richard Feynman)
Date: 20 Nov 92 11:58:47 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1992Nov18.233713.10007@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> lew@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (lewis.h.mammel..jr) writes:
~
~BTW, I check out the radio repair mention in GENIUS, and I didn't
~see anything there to cast doubt on the veracity of the radio
~story, since it seemed to give a thumbnail account that agreed
~with SYJ.

Sometimes Gleick derides "the stories" and sometimes he uses them as a
source. The radio repair story is one example. The story of his father
not teaching him the names of birds is another. This suggests that Gleick
was working with a paucity of material, and is something I found rather
unsatisfactory.





-- 
===Jeremy Henderson===jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk=          

Seen on rec.arts.books "Characters and plot are the exemplar components
of mundane fiction. I do not care to see them at all"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: boroson@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (BOROSON BRAM S)
Subject: Re: Giant shoulders ( was: ( was: ... ))
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 04:13:09 GMT

lew@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (lewis.h.mammel..jr) writes:

>In article <9211141824.AA27371@cfdev1.shearson.com>, mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>> 
>> One need only read about the arguments with Leibniz over the invention
>> of The Calculus to know that Newton was not humble.  Indeed, I've
>> read that his "shoulders of giants" speech could be thought of in
>> political terms, and that he consiously tried to give the appearance
>> of being humble.  
>>  
>> Incidently, while Newton is generally given the attribution for the
>> phrase, it had been around for centuries.

>I wonder if you read the same thing I did. I think it must have
>been S.J. Gould ( in Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle ?? ) I remember it
>being stated that there was a church window depicting the Apostles
>riding on the shoulders of the Prophets, so that by this allusion
>Newton may be construed to have been exalting himself.

I thought Newton used the phrase in a letter to Hooke, who was claiming
(deservedly, perhaps) some credit for Universal Gravitation.  Hooke was
very short.  So Newton was implying "If I have seen further, it was because
I stood on the shoulders of GIANTS, not you, Hooke."

My old mathematical physics professor Robert Weinstock has been digging
holes in Newton's reputation (he says Newton only proved one direction
in the statement  conic section orbits <--> inverse-square central force).
Though this Newton-bashing may be going to far--he may have suffered
from Mercury poisoning which may have altered his personality.

Bram Boroson
boroson@ucsu.colorado.ed
u
>Lew Mammel, Jr.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Maddona's new book
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 18:11:26 GMT

In article <JMC.92Nov21094408@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU writes:
>Mike Godwin includes:
>
>
>     To me, the importance of Madonna (and, yes, I think she's
>     important) lies not in her sexiness (about which many
>     disagree, in any case), but in her absolute control of her
>     sexual personae.
>
>My little latin suggests that "personae" is plural.  What are they
>in the Madonna case?

You may be sure that I did mean for personae to be taken as a plural.

But I didn't mean to imply that I had names for her personae.


--Mike




-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"I can solve this Orient Express thing without
mnemonic@eff.org| breaking a sweat. It's that simple."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Hercule Perot
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jan@teknologi.agderforskning.no (Jan Hansen)
Subject: On-line bases and email bookstores
Organization: Agderforskning
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 12:53:00 GMT

Is there any listings on bookstores that provides on-line
access to their offerings ?
Is there any listings on bookstores that can be reached by email?
(The two questions goes for both new and used books)

Best regards,
Jan Hansen
From: yarnot@babbage.csus.edu (Jan Yarnot)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Jonathan Kozol (was Re: Well, Nichael??)
Date: 20 Nov 92 15:16:17 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: California State University, Sacramento

In article <Bxz1o2.5Kv@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> msmorris@watsci.UWaterloo.ca (Mike Morris) writes:
>                              Thursday, the 19th of November, 1992
>
>Jan Yarnot writes:
>  ObBook:  If I'm going to be Secretary of Education, you all are going to
>  have to read John Holt and Jonathan Kozol.  I'm still trying to recover
>  from the latter's _Rachel and Her Children_.  
>
>I haven't heard of Kozol (can you tell me/us more?), but judging by
>your recommendation of John Holt, Jan, you have my support for Secretary
>of Education.
>
>                Mike Morris
>        (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)

Oh, joy.

Anyway, Kozol was a young idealistic teacher in (oh, dear, North Carolina?  
Someplace on the wrong ocean, anyway..) and ran splat into the facts of
racism, economics, giving up on "at-risk" kids, etc.  He wrote _Death at
an Early Age_, and another I haven't had the fortitude to tackle yet, 
_Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools_.  He, according to
the blurb in that book, lives near Boston and continues to visit schools
and talk with teachers.

_Rachel and Her Children_ was the winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award
in 1989.  It deals with homeless children, mostly in New York City (where
there is more paid to flea-infested falling-down "hotels" to house homeless
than a decent shelter would cost) with side trips to other cities, and with
reference to a lot of the research as to what homelessness does to children.
It's a depressing book, but a valuable one.

Of course, if I want to cheer up, there's always Miss Read!
>
>
>


--
---Jan Yarnot, net.grandma.-- | A lifetime of smirking behind your hand
                              | is a lot better than a few seconds of
                              | triumph.
CSUS depends on my every word.              Kinsella, _Box Socials_
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.meta
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Wittgenstein, P.I.
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 12:54:04 GMT

In article <Bxnwzo.L63@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> aaiken@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Andrew C. Aiken) writes:

>It was a dark and stormy night.
>
>So said the scrap of paper that the madman pressed into his hand.
>
>Is there no escape from the Law?

For Wittgenstein, P.I., the world is all that is the case.


--Mike



-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"I can solve this Orient Express thing without
mnemonic@eff.org| breaking a sweat. It's that simple."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Hercule Perot
From: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Surreal Novels About WWII
Date: 23 Nov 92 14:26:55 GMT
Reply-To: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
In-reply-to: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)

In article <1992Nov23.105954.20376@klaava.Helsinki.FI>, amnell@klaava (Marko Amnell) writes:
>>No one seems to have mentioned Joseph Heller CATCH-22 yet.  Or Kurt
>>Vonnegut SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE.

>Ahem.  Only on the first two lines of my initial reply to Mr. Ronsen.
>Please read posts before you comment.

I only read about ten of them.  Lots of Pynchon recommendations, and
an anti-Mailer flame.

>				        I seem to recall that we've
>already been through this in sci.math, Mr. Wiener.

Nothing that I recall, Master Amnell.  Send me e-mail.
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)
From: lnh@soliton.physics.arizona.edu (sometimes a Wombat)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Books as Objets D'Art
Date: 16 Nov 92 21:34:14 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Society for the Appreciation of Janni Lee Simner

mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>  
> Not a bad idea for a thread.  What books qualify as an objet d'art?
>  
> I'll nominate THE BOOK OF KELLS -- which is in the Long Library at
> Trinity College Dublin, and is, indeed, beautiful.  Any others?

The Kelmscott Chaucer.

And most other Kelmscott editions.  I'm told that until a few months
ago, a certain book arts gallery in town (Tucson, AZ) had a Kelmscott 
Chaucer on display, but I didn't find out about it until it was sold.
The gallery is most interesting, even sans Morris/Burne-Jones finery.

I keep hoping some owner of a Kelmscott Chaucer will let it be destroyed
in the name of creating reproductions.

	Larry "Morris fan" Hammer
--

LNH@physics.arizona.edu   \   Hidden harmony is better than manifest.
GEnie: L.HAMMER2           \      -- Heraclitus, #47
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Re: Why I am thrilled with the QPBC
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 17:16:24 GMT


joan@med.unc.edu (Joan Shields) writes:
 
> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
 
>> I just received three books from the Quality Paperback Book Club.  I am
>> absolutely THRILLED about receiving one of them.
 
> ......
 
>> But the one that really thrills me is called WHY DO DOGS HAVE WET NOSES?
 
>> In order for you to understand why I am thrilled by this book, I should
>> tell you that I bought it as a gift for my father, and I have to tell
>> you a little about my father.
 
 
> Now, that was a truely wonderful post.
 
Thanks, Joan.  I've found out that this is one of a series of books.
One of the other books is called WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY.
 
The best part of it is that there is an address in the book, where
people can write with their questions.  Now whenever my father asks
one of THOSE questions, I can tell him to send the question to them
(at least I can tell him that if I can stop laughing).
 
Mark
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: All-Internet Cabinet
Date: 17 Nov 92 01:26:20 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Nov12.174544.18374@StarConn.com>, dont@StarConn.com (Don Tuite) writes:
> Shall r.a.b propose an all-internet cabinet for Bill Clinton? 
> While I was brushing my teeth this morning, the notion: . . .
> Craig Shergold for Postmaster General. . . crossed my mind.
> 
> Some further thoughts thus engendered:
> 
> Clayton Cramer, with an eye to "A well regulated militia,"
> obviously deserves a spot at Defense or Education.  (Or should we

You wouldn't like the results.  The standing military of the
U.S. would drop to about 200,000 people; draft registration 
would end; and Congress would be lobbied for an updated version
of the Militia Act of 1792.

> nominate Jan Yarnot for Education?)  Suze, on soc.culture.celtic,
> whose .sig includes Scott's "Ye hypocrites. . . ." would be an
> alternative to Clayton.

Why an alternative?  If you wish peace, prepare for war.  It
tends to discourage aggressors better than handing them flowers.
Not having a standing military to speak of also solves the
problem of, "I've got an hammer, that must be a nail."

> don


-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
"Foxes prefer rabbits with short claws." -- Nadja Adolf
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: ian@spider.co.uk (Ian Heavens)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Trebbitsch Lincoln
Date: 20 Nov 92 14:36:11 GMT
Organization: Spider Systems Limited, Edinburgh, UK.

In article <Bxuty2.24t@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk> stevem@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Steve McGowan (RA)) writes:
>
>Does anyone know of other material about this character?
>
>I read "The secret lives of Trebbitsch Lincoln" by Prof. Howard Wasserstein 
>a few years ago, and found it fascinating. I meant to track down more 
>literature about him but never got round to it.
>
>For those of you unfamiliar with the person, Trebbitsch Lincoln was
>one of those strange people that history throws up very rarely. Most of his 
>activities occurred in the earlier part of this century, and the 'secret 
>lives' referred to in the above book describe how Trebbitsch had been a
>missionary, a Member of Parlaiment for Darlington, an international spy and
>a Buddhist monk (amongst other 'jobs').

I cannot think of any other material, but a similar strange character was
Edmund Backhouse, whose story is told in 'The Hermit of Peking' by Hugh
Trevor-Roper (and then, of course, there is B. Traven, variously claimed to
have been related to the Kaiser or to have taken a leading part in the
revolutionary movement in Bavaria in 1919).

ian

---
	 Ian Heavens			ian@spider.co.uk                 
 	 Spider Software
 	 Spider Park, Stanwell Street		
	 Edinburgh, EH6 5NG, Scotland	+44 31 555 5166 (Ext 4347)
--
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mcdougall@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Subject: Re: good novels about gay lifestyle
Reply-To: mcdougall@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:57:12 GMT

Hi,

While in London, I picked up a copy of the "The Face".  In it this popular
culture mag reviewed several books including Dennis Cooper's "Frisk".  The
book is barely longer that 100 pages and is suspenseful fiction from the
gay culture--sratch from to about.

I do not want to start a flame, so I'll pre-emptorily say that this is one
aspect of a gay lifestlye and am not pretending any expertise in this 
lifestyle.

Best regards,
Brendan
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: Re: Balls &c. and numbers thereof.
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 20:33:05 GMT

mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto):
>I figure it must be computer scientists.  A mathematician would
>never do anything so silly.  He knows that larger primes are there,
>that they are not divisible by four, and is satisfied with the knowledge.

Honestly, where do you get these ideas!  Doesn't anyone study logic
any more?  First, there are only so many primes out there, and it's
first come first served, so there is naturally a rush to find them
before they're all gone.  (The so-called proof that there is an
infinite number of primes was a fabrication produced to discourage 
the competition.)  Second, while the number of primes is finite, the 
number of primes divisible by four is not, since *any* number divisible 
by no numbers other than one and four is a prime.  Third, while some 
mathematicians are satisfied with knowledge alone, others can be more 
avaricious than any computer scientist.  It is very insensitive of you 
to generalize in this way.

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com

   The inability of snakes to count is actually a refusal, on their part,
    to appreciate the Cardinal Number system. -- "Actual Facts"
From: lnh@soliton.physics.arizona.edu (sometimes a Wombat)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: not verbose (was Re: Balls etc.)
Date: 20 Nov 92 17:11:38 GMT
Organization: Society for the Appreciation of Janni Lee Simner

cramer@optilink.COM (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> President Calvin Coolidge was known as "Silent Cal" for his
> economic use of English.  A young woman approached him at an
> official function and said, "I've just made a bet with a woman
> who says I can't get you to say more than two words to me all
> evening."
> 
> Silent Cal thought for a moment, and replied, "You lose."

You blew this one, but only slightly.  It should be told " ... can't
get you to say three words ... "  More effective that way.

	Larry "Pedant of Humours" Hammer
--

LNH@physics.arizona.edu   \  For love all love of other sights controls,
GEnie: L.HAMMER2           \ And makes one little room an everywhere -- Donne
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken)
Subject: good novels about gay lifestyle
Organization: W S Rupprecht Computer Consulting, Fremont CA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 06:28:00 GMT

I'd like to read one or two good books about the gay lifestyle in
order to try to understand it.  In particular I am NOT curious about
gay sexual practices (not a prude; just not interested).  I undertake
this project in the same spirit as when a few years ago I decided to
read several books about Islam: I want to "see how the other half
lives."  Recommendations for serious adult fiction are appreciated.
-- 
Alison Chaiken 				alison@wsrcc.com
(510) 422-7129 [daytime] 		or chaiken@cmsgee.llnl.gov
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: vince@cadence.com (Vince Gibboni)
Subject: Re: The Truth According to Mickie Medved
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 23:42:42 GMT

mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
> fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster) writes:
>
>> There are things that can't be laughed at?  Topics that contain no
>> raw material for humor?  Like what?
>
> Torturing political prisoners to death. To name one thing.
>


        Get..... the Comfy Chair  !   *



  * [Footnote]  From (of course) the Spanish-Inquisition Sketch. (Well, 
                they were kind of political prisoners...)


--
                                                         vince@gda.cadence.com

         Go play in the blender.
             - Garfield
From: ccsdgdc@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk (Douglas Clark)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Tsetsaeva translations
Date: 16 Nov 92 14:35:00 GMT
Organization: Bath University Computing Services, UK


I notice that someone was complaining that he found Marina Tsetsaeva's
poetry mediocre. Then a great pack of Russians
started squabbling. I dont think there is any question of the quality
of her poetry in the original Russian ("We are four" ... Akhmatova)
but there is a problem in that there don't seem to be any quality
translations into English. I think this is where the misapprehension
'mediocre' has risen. She is undoubtedly a great poet. Let the Russians
on the net haggle over the details. I wish there was a translation.
From: carlj@muppet.bt.co.uk (Carl)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Neuromancer
Date: 19 Nov 92 09:54:06 GMT
Reply-To: carlj@muppet.bt.co.uk
Organization: British Telecom

In article 18NOV199211035966@rigel.tamu.edu, spb0457@rigel.tamu.edu 
(SubGenius) witters:
>As far as the series goes, _Neuromancer_ is (IMNSHO) the best of the lot, and
>is simultaneously overrated (by fawning hordes of salivating cyberdudes whose
>main interest in the novel is centered around the presence of lasses with
>Wilkenson Sword safety razors under their Lee Press-On Nails) and underrated
>(by the literarti, who refuse to take anything seriously that involves
>computers, robots, space ships, bug-eyed monsters and especially lasses with
>Wilkenson Sword safety razors under their Lee Press-On Nails).

This "underrating" is something I've come across a lot and very irritating it is
to, especially when said literarti suddenly discover they like some work of SF
and then refuse to accept it as such.

>
>_Count Zero_ was a bit of a disappointment, but _Mona Lisa Overdrive_ was 
>easily as impressive as _Neuromancer_, and possibly would have been considered
>even more impressive if it had been written earlier.
>

Burning Chrome is also worth checking out, some of the short stories in it are
excellent.


Cheers,
C
From: rm009b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Lestat de Lioncourt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The Secret Agent
Date: 23 Nov 92 20:44:37 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

In <23NOV199209175572@portal.lasc.lockheed.com> le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel) writes:

>In article <1992Nov21.173448.6510@gw.wmich.edu>, cooneys@gw.wmich.edu writes...

>>I think the rule is, the better the original being done on 
>>t.v. or movies, the worse the result. I can think of only a 
>>few possible exceptions: THE SPOILS OF POYNTON years ago 
>>was, I thought, marvellously done. And a Russian movie of 
>>Chekhov's "Lady with a Little Dog" was superb (I think the 
>>director's name was Heifetz)


>This could make for an interesting thread on books that trasnlated well
>to the screen.  I tend to agree with the assessment above - that the better
>the novel, the weaker the result on screen.  The exceptions I would put forth
>are:

>Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (PBS)
>Smiley's People
>Crime and Punishment (PBS)
>Little Dorritt
>Godfather
>Lonesome Dove

>So what do you others feel were well done translations of novels?

>Ron


I think that nearly all of the Sherlock Holmes series done by PBS was an
excellent translation of Conan Doyle's books.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Mills                     |  "You step into the Road, and if you don't
rm009b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu  |   deep your feet, there is no knowing where
                               |   you might be swept off to." Bilbo Baggins
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books