HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: calvo@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Sherri Calvo)
Subject: Re: "Genius": Feynman bio
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:40:00 GMT

In article <190tc5INN1id@agate.berkeley.edu>, peterme@ocf.berkeley.edu (Peter Merholz) writes...
>There was an extremely brief mention of the new Richard Feynman bio, "Genius"
>in Time or Newsweek... I loved "Surely You're Joking" and "What Do You Care"
>books, and eagerly await this... does anyone know when it will hit the
>shelves?
> 
>Thanks
> 
>--Peter M.
> 

Yes, and has anybody read "Tuva or Bust" about Feynman's last road 
trip with Leighton? It made a brief appearance in a retail-price 
bookstore I occasionally browse in, but I didn't buy it, figuring it 
would eventually show up in the Science Book Club circular. Well, it hasn't, 
and I haven't seen it anywhere else, either. Is it worth chasing?

(For calibration purposes, I also read and enjoyed Feynman's two 
autobiographical works.)

Sherri

Sherri Chasin Calvo
calvo@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 15:04:56 GMT

In article <-cqnma+.tmaddox@netcom.com> tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox) writes:

>	Actually, I have trouble believing that any of the distinguished
>r.a.b.ble are foolish enough to judge books by their covers.  Do remember
>that writers have *no* say 99.n% of the time about what does and doesn't go
>on the cover--whether idiotic words or phrases or pink & heaving bosoms.

I'm reminded of the famous cover illustration to Joanna Russ's THE FEMALE
MAN. The book, which was grounded in strongly feminist themes, had on the
cover a picture of a nude woman taking off her skin to reveal still more
nudity.


--Mike




-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact 
mnemonic@eff.org| of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, 
(617) 864-0665  | both are transformed."
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Carl Jung 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Subject: Re: King in Yellow, publication date?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 23:44:00 GMT

Fiona Webster writes...
>Robin Boswell writes:
>>   Can anyone tell me when William Chambers' "The King in Yellow" was
>>first published?
> 
>Oh, goody!  I've always fantasized about being the sort of person who
>could answer trivia questions in the area of horror literature.  Now,
>finally, in my late 30's, I'm there.  (Or here.  Wherever.)
>The date is 1895.  Other interesting info about Chambers available on
>request.  <gloat, gloat>
>					         --Fiona Webster
+--------------------------------------SubG------------------------------------+
True enough, but the Daedalus printing does not date to 1895 (unless I'm very
much mistaken).

I believe the original (1895) printing was done by F. T. Neely.  Later
printings include Books for Libraries Press (1969), Dover (1970) and Ace
Books (1982).

Never heard of the Daedalus printing, so my guess would be that it's either
fairly recent (after 1980) or fairly old (before 1950).




S.W.A.G.,
Yours etc.,



SubGenius
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Subject: Re: Bernard Berenson
Reply-To: entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:22:41 GMT

According to Colin Simpson's "The Artful Partners" one of the ways
Berenson made the money to buy all those beautiful Italian paintings
was to conspire with art dealer Joseph Duveen to fleece Duveen's
customers.  Berenson would pose as an independent expert to authenticate
suspect works as genuine while actually in the pay of Duveen.

Erik Timmerman
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 19:50:27 GMT


fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu (James P. H. Fuller) writes:
 
> proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes:
 
>>> Indeed I hope someone will tell me what poem "insidious intent" is
>>> from.
 
>> Haven't been following this thread, but it is from Eliot's "The Waste
>> Land". Of was Eliot quoting someone else?
 
>     Hmmmmmm.  *I* remember it from _The Love Song of J. A. P._  Have Eliot
> verses been misceginating in the dark?
 
And James Fuller gets the prize.
 
Mark
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: Re: elusive allusion
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 22:51:10 GMT

Mr. SubGenius writes, re. "bloviation":
>In literature, you can find the word used in Don Robertson's _The Ideal,
>Genuine Man_ if, that is, you can find the book.

Which is a superlative novel, if I may interject an empty value judgment
here...the best horror novel set in Houston I've ever read.  (No, I
don't think David Lindsey is all that good.)

							--Fiona
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hopkins@agora.rain.com (Scott Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Old SF Koontz novels Wanted
Organization: Open Communications Forum
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 09:12:13 GMT


	Regarding the recent followup to my article, Koontz actually has 9
	pen names that I know of.  He also published some twenty-five or so
	sci-fi novels under Dean R. Koontz, before he turned to
	suspense/horror!  I am looking for anything by him that might be
	considered hard to get!  I have most of his *recent* pen-names
	books, but still am interested in any information!

				-Casey Hopkins
				hopkins@agora.rain.com

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: Andrew.Robinson@anu.edu.au
Subject: Re: Damned lit yokels
Organization: Australian National University
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 03:04:18 GMT

In article <1942sqINNmh0@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL)
writes:
>Andrew Clayton writes:
>
>
>>Game Over.
>
>>Insert another quarter to play again.
>
>>Dac
>>--
>
>>David "I'm not a pheasant plucker ..."  Clayton.        
>>Canberra, Australia           
>
>
>It was reported in a major Melbourne daily yesterday that the French
>ambassador to Australia was asked at a party what it was like to live in
>a place like Canberra after having spent the better part of his life in
>cantankerous Paris. He replied: "Well, Canberra eez not really a place, it
>eez more like ... a space."
>
>
>Infidel.
>
Hang on.  I'm tangled up under this rock here.

[phew]

I'd agree with what the ambassador said.  Canberra's a space for people who
want to be,
instead of wanting to be somewhere.

regardless,
Andrew

now hit d
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
	<jyc.715709392@Leland>
Date: 5 Sep 92 12:31:48

In article <jyc.715709392@Leland> jyc@leo.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis) writes:

   In rec.arts.books jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:

   >                                                        I think it
   >is Taranto who is obliged to avoid reading into Cramer's or anyone
   >else's words meanings different from what he says.              

   In alt.activism.d jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:

   >If you don't want to be taken for extremists, then you have to
   >say something to distinguish yourself from the extremists.  The
   >"anti-war" movement neglected this to the point of being taken
   >over by its anti-American wing.                                  

      Well?  

Yes, I have to answer this one.  If Clayton Cramer had marched in a
parade led by people in white hoods carrying burning crosses,
but himself carrrying a sign saying only that the ancient Greeks
were white, I would consider that he had some further obligation
to distinguish himself from the Klansmen.

For those that didn't see the previous exchange between John Corelis
and me, I had been referring to a demonstration in San Francisco in
1967 in which I marched.  The people in front turned out to be
carrying signs "Ho, ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF gonna win." and I claimed
that anyone who marched in the parade had some share of the moral
responsibility for the massacres in Cambodia and the drowning of the
boat people.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: watson@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (John S. Watson - FSC)
Subject: Re: John McPhee
Organization: NASA Ames Res. Ctr. Mtn Vw CA 94035
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:32:39 GMT

In article <18q4b1INN6o6@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ar710@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (William G. Martin) writes:
> After that year-and-a-half of no McPhee, just about a day after I posted
> that note, the new New Yorker arrived (the 9/7/92 issue). In it was the
> first part of a three-parter by McPhee, a continuation of his "geology"
> series. This one is on the geology of California. I had meant to post 
> this follow-up last week, but it slipped my mind... The arrival 
> yesterday of the next New Yorker, containing part II, reminded me. (That
> is the Sept 14 issue.) I'm saving them all up to read at once...

Does anyone know how long it takes from the time McPhee's series
appear in the _New_Yorker_ until they come out in book form?
Does the _New_Yorker_ publish what will be the complete book,
or just a few chapters?

I like McPhee, but when I read a book, I like to read the whole 
thing all at once, with no interruptions.  And I don't want to
have to go back later an read the chapters I missed.

Favorite McPhee book sofar: Encounters with the Archdruid

chow!
John
John S. Watson, Civil Servent from Hell          ARPA: watson@ames.arc.nasa.gov
HOMEBREW NAKED! --- Ursus cerevisiae nudium  (The Bare Beer Bear)

#include <stddsclm.h> 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith)
Subject: Re: npr & freedom - WALDEN
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 15:08:03 GMT
Distribution: rec

Jon (jmhodapp) writes:

	  (Or the HUGE guy, in the case of
	Cover to Cover in Denver, biggest/bestest bookstore North of the Pecos
	i.e between Chicago and L.A. Chairs, grandfather clocks, 4 floors of
	book buyer heaven. )


Might you mean Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver?  I was there in
June.  All new books, but a bargin basement with true bargins.  I got
Feynman's "What Do You Care What Other People Think" in Hardback for
$4 and Lopez's "Artic Dreams" in large paperback for $5.

The place was very busy on a stormy Sunday and people were lined up
in the rain waiting for it to open.  The sales people were helpful
and even directed me to a used bookstore a couple of blocks away.

Ob plug:  For HUGE, don't forget Powell's in Portland.  1,000,000+
volumes new and used.



William Sburgfort Smith
Intel, SSD

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:40:00 GMT

In article <9209091623.AA00436@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:

>I'll give Mike his own advice about assuming that Ms. Officious Courtesy,
>Fiona Webster or Fiona Oceanstar are identical to the psychiatrist/writer
>who posts under those personae (whatever his/her real name is).  
 
I doubt Dr. Webster would insist on the distinction between her persona
and her "self," whatever that is, to the extent that Fido/Francis Muir
does. But the Fido persona exists in many contexts, and is consistent
and even predictable. The Courtesy persona seems to have been invented
for a single posting.


--Mike





-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact 
mnemonic@eff.org| of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, 
(617) 864-0665  | both are transformed."
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Carl Jung
From: spok+@cs.cmu.edu (John Ockerbloom)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 9 Sep 92 01:44:50 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

Fiona Webster writes:
>>That is all for today.  Since Miss Manners is already taken, I shall
>>adopt the moniker of Ms. Officious Courtesy

Barbara Hlavin asks:
>May I be Miss Communication?

As you wish.  But why not simply take on the persona Ms. Webster declined,
and thereby get to be Miss Taken Identity?

John (okay, I'll crawl back into my lurking corner now...) Ockerbloom
-- 
==========================================================================
ockerbloom@cs.cmu.edu                      ...!uunet!cs.cmu.edu!ockerbloom
ocker@yalecs.bitnet (forwarded)      4209 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15217
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 04:28:13 GMT

>
>In article <12181@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>Very good -- but how do you get that most powerful of paperback
>marketing symbols on the cover -- the swastika?
>
>There was a point in the early 1980s where you might have assumed
>that a paperback for sale in the U.S. received some sort of 
>tax credit for having either a swastika or a hammer-and-sickle
>on the cover.
>
>
Clayton, will you please give me a hundred or so examples of what 
you're talking about here? 
>
>
I was not only alive and sentient during the '80s, I was in one 
bookstore or another in a major cosmpolitan city four or five times 
a week during that decade, and I swear to god that I can't think of 
a single example of a single paperback book displaying either a swastika 
or a hammer-and-sickle on its cover on any volume I set my eyes on in any
of the 12 or more bookstores that I visted on a regular basis during 
those years.  I think I might have seen one obscure volume on Hindu
ethno-musicology that has a swastika on its spine, but that's not what 
you're talking about, is it? 
 
I was living in Manhattan and taking classes at Columbia University 
from 1983-1985, in case Seattle isn't mainstream enough for you. 

Enlighten me, please. 

--Barbara
From: 10e@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM (Steve_Tenney)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Ideas for promotion of short Novel?
Date: 8 Sep 92 20:11:03 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon

A friend of mine is getting a short novel published by a small press this
fall.  Their budget seems to be pretty small for promotional purposes, also
they are located on the east coast.  He was wondering what sort of low cost
self-promotional strategy he could pursue on the "left" coast?

Any Ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Steve Tenney
  
   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Steve Tenney                   | "Your problem isn't karma, Sheldon, 
    Hewlett-Packard  Corvallis, ORE|  it's attitude!" 
    10e@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM           | "Well, Lonnie, maybe it's attitudinal
                                   |  karma!" Lonnie and Sheldon in PERSONA  
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: seaverw@columbia.dsu.edu (W. A. Seaver)
Subject: Re: Natalie Goldberg & teaching writing
Organization: Dakota State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 03:32:59 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.212311.25121@nas.nasa.gov> wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith) writes:
>I have two of Natalie Goldberg's, one I've read and one on my too read
>stack after I follow all the advice in the first one.  "Writing Down
>the Bones" is the first, and "Wild Mind", subtitled "Living the Writer's
>Life" is the second.

I consider "WDtB" to be the best book on my writing shelf. Her approach is 
SO much more readable than the others, making you feel as though you were 
sitting on the other side of the coffee table from her, sunk down in a fat-
armed comfy-chair. Though I suppose you meant to say that the other book is 
on your "to read" stack (typos are forgivable), "WDtB" is in my "too-read" 
stack, meaning it's falling apart from my having thumbed through it so much!

--W.A. Seaver
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Where to buy the Encyclopaedia Britannica?
Date: 9 Sep 92 20:45:06 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1992Sep9.095340.19194@nevada.edu> wwhitman@nevada.edu (MICHAEL WISE) writes:

Re Britannica:

>Why? It's not a great encyclopedia as far as they go. Better off with a 
>one-volume Columbia or an encyclopedic dictionary. They provide essential
>facts without the patronizing attitude.

My mum bought me one in the 1950s which I've consulted about once a
month ever since. Haven't noticed a patronising attitude anywhere, and
can't imagine that anything in one volume could provide the kind of
concentrated crash introduction that 24 volumes can. But maybe since
they started being produced in the USA the standard has deteriorated?
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
From: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Wonderful Life
Date: 12 Sep 92 09:50:19 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In <1992Sep12.042149.3342@informix.com> proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes:

>Not a flame, but .... what, if any, would be the connection between
>Gould's moral character and the quality of his work? Do you think
>that only "good people" can do "good science"?

>I remember reading somewhere that Beethoven was a real <insert term
>of abuse here> (used his influence to destroy professional rivals,
>etc). Even if this is true, should it have any influence on our view
>of his music?

>Well, these are very bland observations on my part, aren't they?

I dunno... I think my dislike of Gould's abuse of authority is
independent of my evaluation of his work, what little I've read of
it.  Russell was also infamous for his womanizing, and although
I don't like this part of his personality, I respect his work.
The same goes for Beethoven's business tactics, I think he was
a bit unstable probably, but I love his compositions (The violin
concerto is my favourite).  On the other hand, I liked the story
about Beethoven admonishing Goethe for using the servants entrance.

This might make a good idea for a thread:  famous writers (I guess this
is a fair restriction) and their personal negative proclivities.
Not the lame stuff about drinking, we want the weird stuff!

-- 
Marko Amnell
amnell@klaava.helsinki.fi
Graduate Student in Philosophy
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith)
Subject: Re: utopias and distopias
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 21:34:34 GMT

 nevins@husc.harvard.edu writes:

	  What I'm
	really interested in is more modern utopia-writing, especially
	science-fiction: are there classic sci-fi utopia texts?  Science fiction
	will be especially important in my consideration of distopias--from
	Orwell on up through the "dirty bad future" of Dick, Blade Runner,
	Road Warrior, Brazil, etc.  



Aldus Huxley's "Brave New World" and for a counter example, his "Ape
and Essence".



William Sburgfort Smith
Intel, SSD

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Bernard Berenson
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:31:40 GMT

Ron Nadel writes:

	In his collection of essays "Nothing if not Critical", art 
	critic Robert Hughes takes Berenson to task on this point.  
	He praises him for bringing an organized system to 
	authenticating old works (and in the process BB became the 
	foremost expert on the distinguishing features of that period),
	but the problem was the art world nearly became paralyzed since 
	no sale of these kinds of works could take place without an 
	authentication by BB - for his usual percentage.  There seemed 
	to be incidents where Berenson - if not consulted - could cast 
	doubts about the validity of a work.

What a load of codswallop. "nearly paralyzed"? To the contrary. Berenson
brought order to the marketplace. Of course there were "incidents". In the
late 19th and early 20th Centuries there was a huge demand for art here
in the States, and masses of money behind the demand. Young countries being
what they are, there were plenty of charlatans around to fill the demand
with fake stuff. It has been calculated that there are 10 times more
Corots in America than the artist ever painted, and my guess is that most
of them are in Kansas City and Philadelphia. Of course these charlatans
did not want Berenson nosing around, and of course Berenson would say that
if they were not authenticated then they could be fake.

The real problem is that little men like Robert Hughes have to find little
things to say -- it is in their nature. The real solution is for rabbers
first to read the masters and then the little folk. Unless, of course, you
get your jollies from this rather tiresome bashing business. The whole
thing seems to have been started by Lytton Strachey. What a lot that idiot
has to answer for.

							Fido

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: Re: utopias and distopias
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 92 21:37:07 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

It's harder to write a good Utopian novel than a good Distopian one.
One of the goals of the former tends to be to present an alternative
society and to make the case that it is better than our own, but how
does one convince the reader that the better outcomes portrayed in the
book are the result of a better society, and not the author's whims?
I can write a book about a society in which everyone amputates an arm
at puberty and is happier for it, but that doesn't mean I'm being
realistic.  Further, the societies now extant are the products of a
tremendous amount of collective experience in managing human affairs.
We are well aware of their defects, but justly suspicious of panaceas.

The conventions of a Distopia are different.  They are used to
criticize specific aspects of, or trends within, a society, typically
by exaggerating them, and it is less important that the Distopia be
realistic or internally consistent.

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

   Aphorism is better than none.